Performance evaluation of booster materials in the plastic bonded explosive PBX 9502 in a hemispherical wave breakout test
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
An explosive booster is normally required to initiate detonation in an insensitive high explosive (lHE). Booster materials must be ignitable by a conventional detonator and deliver sufficient energy and favorable pulse shape to initiate the IHE charge. The explosive booster should be as insensitive as reasonably possible to maintain the overall safety margin of the explosive assembly. A hemispherical wave breakout test termed the on ionskin test is one of the methods of testing the performance of booster materials in an initiation train assembly. There are several variations of this basic test which are known by other names. In this test, the wave breakout time-position history at the surface of a hemispherical IHE acceptor charge is recorded, and the relative uniformity of breakout allows qualitative comparison between booster candidates and quantitative comparison of several metrics. The results of a series of onionskin experiments evaluating the performance of some new booster formulations in the triaminotrinitrobenzene (TA TB) -based plastic bonded explosive PBX 9502 will be presented. The boosters were tested in an onionskin arrangement in which the booster pellet was cylindrical, and the tests were performed at a temperature of-55{sup o}C to emphasize variations in spreading performance. The modification from the traditional hemispherical geometry facilitated efficient explosive fabrication and charge assembly, but the results indicate that this geometry was not ideal for several reasons. Despite the complications arising from geometry, promising performance was observed from booster formulations including 3,3' -diamino-4,4'azoxyfurazan.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 960607
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-08-05476; LA-UR-08-5476; PEPYD5; TRN: US201006%%1247
- Journal Information:
- Propellants, Explosives, Pyrotechnics, Journal Name: Propellants, Explosives, Pyrotechnics; ISSN 0721-3115
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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