Thermal expansion of PBX 9501 and PBX 9502 plastic-bonded explosives

Conference · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2009

OSTI ID:992178

Thompson, Darla Graff ^[1]; Brown, Geoff W ^[1]; Deluca, Racci ^[1]; Giambra, Anna ^[1]; Sandstrom, Mary ^[1]

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1. Los Alamos National Laboratory

Two applications of thermal expansion measurements on plastic-bonded explosive (PBX) composites are described. In the first dilatometer application, thermal expansion properties of HMX-based PBX 9501 are measured over a broad thermal range that includes glass and domain-restructuring transitions in the polymeric binder. Results are consistent with other thermal measurements and analyses performed on the composite, as well as on the binder itself. The second application used the dilatometer to distinguish the reversible and irreversible components of thermal expansion in PBX 9502, a TATB-based explosive. Irreversible expansion of the composite is believed to derive from the highly-anisotropic coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) values measured on single T A TB crystals, although the mechanism is not well understood. Effects of specimen density, thermal ramp rate, and thermal range variation (warm first or cold first) were explored, and the results are presented and discussed. Dilatometer measurements are ongoing towards gaining insight into the mechanism(s) responsible for PBX 9502 irreversible thermal expansion.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC52-06NA25396
• OSTI ID: 992178
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-09-05002; LA-UR-09-5002
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
66
BINDERS
EXPLOSIVES
GLASS
THERMAL ANALYSIS
THERMAL EXPANSION