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Effect of carbon and boron nitride additions on detonation of explosives

Journal Article · · Combust., Explos. Shock Waves (Engl. Transl.); (United States)
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00750355· OSTI ID:6033086

The authors assess experimentally the effect of polymorphic transformations of additions of carbon and boron nitrides on the detonation behavior of hexogen and TNT and their mixtures. Detonation was measured by ionization sensors. The main factors determining the effect of the additives on the detonation parameters were found to be a sharp reduction in additive volume with its transformation into a denser structure, which should be accompanied by a reduction in the detonation velocity, and a change in specific heat and Debye temperature during the crystal-phase transformation of the additives, which can also retard detonation if the new phase formed requires a greater amount of heat in order to achieve the equilibrium temperature than did the original phase. With an increase in the proportion of hexogen to TNT, however, the boron nitride detonation-loading temperature increases. This leads to the formation of a sphalerite phase in the nitride whose proportion to the wurtzite phase increases with temperature. In this way, the reverse of retardation is achieved; the lower internal energy of the sphalerite nitride, and the commensurate additional heat release, not only compensates for the retardation observed in the first factor but actually increases the detonation rate. The difference in internal energies for the two phases of boron nitride was worked out in a Debye approximation for the dependence of internal energy on temperature.

OSTI ID:
6033086
Journal Information:
Combust., Explos. Shock Waves (Engl. Transl.); (United States), Journal Name: Combust., Explos. Shock Waves (Engl. Transl.); (United States) Vol. 22:3; ISSN CESWA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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