Sensitivity to friction for primary explosives.

The sensitivity to friction for a selection of primary explosives has been studied using a small BAM friction apparatus. The probit analysis was used for the construction of a sensitivity curve for each primary explosive tested. Two groups of primary explosives were chosen for measurement (a) the most commonly used industrially produced primary explosives (e.g. lead azide, tetrazene, dinol, lead styphnate) and (b) the most produced improvised primary explosives (e.g. triacetone triperoxide, hexamethylenetriperoxide diamine, mercury fulminate, acetylides of heavy metals). A knowledge of friction sensitivity is very important for determining manipulation safety for primary explosives. All the primary explosives tested were carefully characterised (synthesis procedure, shape and size of crystals). The sensitivity curves obtained represent a unique set of data, which cannot be found anywhere else in the available literature.

Thermal loading of explosives--finite difference method with time step reduction.

The method of simulation of heat transfer during thermal loading of energetic materials is introduced. The combination of the simple finite difference method with a time step reduction enables the quick and precise calculation of ignition times. The results are in accordance with published model data. The method was also used to simulate heat transfer during the slow cookoff test and the result agrees very well with experimental data.

Power of TATP based explosives.

The power of various explosive mixtures based on triacetone triperoxide (3,3,6,6,9,9-hexamethyl-1,2,4,5,7,8-hexoxonane, TATP), ammonimum nitrate (AN), urea nitrate (UrN) and water (W), namely TATP/AN, oil/AN, TATP/UrN, TATP/W and TATP/AN/W, was studied using the ballistic mortar test. The ternary mixtures of TATP/AN/W have relatively high power in case of the low water contents. Their power decrease significantly with increasing the water content in the mixture to more than 30%.