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Electrostatic Discharge Ignition of Energetic Materials
Author(s) -
Skinner Darin,
Olson Douglas,
BlockBolten Andrew
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
propellants, explosives, pyrotechnics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.56
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1521-4087
pISSN - 0721-3115
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1521-4087(199802)23:1<34::aid-prep34>3.0.co;2-v
Subject(s) - explosive material , pyrotechnics , ignition system , energetic material , minimum ignition energy , materials science , propellant , electrostatic discharge , thermodynamics , thermal decomposition , burn rate (chemistry) , chemistry , thermal runaway , autoignition temperature , composite material , analytical chemistry (journal) , physics , battery (electricity) , chromatography , voltage , power (physics) , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics
Electrostatic discharge(ESD) ignition of explosives, pyrotechnics, or propellants is often considered to be mainly dependent upon various physical characteristics of the energetic material. This work shows that ESD ignition of secondary explosives tested in powdered form is primarily dependent upon the chemical characteristics of the energetic material(i.e., the decomposition rate kinetics of the materials). We propose that ignition occurs when a spark raises the temperature of the explosive particles to the point where thermal runaway occurs. ESD sensitivities of a diverse series of explosives were measured using a traveling needle test apparatus with the powders slightly confined by Mylar tape to prevent formation and ignition of a dust cloud. Using global thermal decomposition rate coefficient expressions, two parameters were calculated for each explosive:(1) the critical temperatures according to the Frank‐Kamenetskii formula for 20 μm particles of each explosive and(2) the temperatures at which the rate coefficient equaled 10 3 s −1 . These two sets of data were correlated with the observed ESD sensitivities for 50 percent probability of ignition, E 50 . Excellent correlations resulted, indicating that for ESD ignition under these conditions the spark discharge is primarily a thermal source.