Impact testing of RDX; The effect of crystal quality
conference paper
The effect of RDX crystal quality on the shock sensitivity of RDX-based plastic bonded explosives has been extensively studied internationally, as significant differences in shock initiation pressures had been observed. The RDX crystal itself can be visualized, but a unique and also easily quantifiable property of the crystal related to shock sensitivity, is still missing. In an international round-robin test a.o. the impact sensitivity of RDX has been measured. Standard impact testing thereby focusses on the determination of the dropheight corresponding to a 50 % initiation propability. However, no correlation with shock sensitivity has been found.
In this paper results will be presented on impact testing of various RDX samples using the Ballistic Impact Chamber (BIC). The pressure evolution in the BIC is measured. Numerical simulations have been performed to guide the experimental design and explain the observed phenomena in the measured pressure evolution. The experimental results obtained with the BIC are compared to the RDX crystal quality as observed by optical microscopy and SEM. The reactivity of RDX in the impact testing with the BIC does correlate to this crystal quality and opens up the possibility of achieving a quantitative determination of crystal quality.
In this paper results will be presented on impact testing of various RDX samples using the Ballistic Impact Chamber (BIC). The pressure evolution in the BIC is measured. Numerical simulations have been performed to guide the experimental design and explain the observed phenomena in the measured pressure evolution. The experimental results obtained with the BIC are compared to the RDX crystal quality as observed by optical microscopy and SEM. The reactivity of RDX in the impact testing with the BIC does correlate to this crystal quality and opens up the possibility of achieving a quantitative determination of crystal quality.
TNO Identifier
182989
Source title
11th seminar on New Trends in Research on Energetic Materials (NTREM), Pardubice, Czech Republic, 9-11 April 2008
Pages
91-98
Files
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