Taylor impact tests and simulation on plastic bonded explosives

Taylor impact tests were conducted on plastic bonded explosives PBX 9501 and PBXN-9 for impact velocities between 80 and 214 m/s. High-speed photography was used to image the impact event at a rate of one frame for every 25 μs. For early times, PBXN-9 showed large-deformation mushrooming of the explosive cylinders, followed by fragmentation by an amount proportional to the impact speed, was observed at all velocities. PBX 9501 appeared to be more brittle than PBXN-9, the latter demonstrated a more viscoelastic response. The post-shot fragments were collected and particle size distributions were obtained. The constitutive model ViscoSCRAM was then used to model the Taylor experiments using the finite element code ABAQUS. Prior to the Taylor simulations, ViscoSCRAM was parameterized for the two explosives using uniaxial stress-strain data. Simulating Taylor impact tests validates the model in situations undergoing extreme damage and fragmentation.