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U.S. Department of Energy
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Chemical-decomposition models for the thermal explosion of confined HMX, TATB, RDX, and TNT explosives

Conference ·
OSTI ID:6532473

Chemical decomposition models have been deduced from the available chemical kinetic data on the thermal decomposition of HMX, TATB, RDX, and TNT. A thermal conduction model is used in which the thermal conductivity of the reacting explosive decreases linearly with the mass fraction reacted to that of the gaseous products. These reactive heat flow models are used to predict the time to explosion versus reciprocal temperature curves from several heavily confined explosive tests. Good agreement is obtained between experimental and calculated explosion times for the pure explosives HMX, TATB, RDX, and TNT, mixtures such as RX-26-AF (HMX/TATB), Octol (HMX/TNT), and Comp B (RDX/TNT), and for PBX 9404, an HMX-based explosive containing an energetic nitrocellulose binder.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
6532473
Report Number(s):
UCRL-84986; CONF-810602-15
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English