Detonation propagation along percolating cluster in composite explosives

Abstract

The detonation performance of melt-cast plastic-bonded explosives (PBXs) based on high melting explosive octogen (HMX) was studied in the paper. It has been found that the detonation velocity strongly depends from the dispersion distribution of HMX particles: it changes from 7800 to 8700 m/s. We explain this by the possibility of detonation propagation in PBX through different mechanisms, including detonation front propagation along a percolating cluster formed by filler particles. Thus, varying the particle size distribution can bring about one detonation mechanism or another and hence control the energy release dynamics of melt-cast PBXs to attain high efficiency in practice. Experimental results confirm the assumptions.