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Large‐Scale Fragment Impact Sensitivity Test Results of a Melt Castable, General Purpose, Insensitive High Explosive
Author(s) -
Sumrall Theodore S.
Publication year - 1999
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(199902)24:1<30::aid-prep30>3.0.co;2-e
Subject(s) - explosive material , physics , analytical chemistry (journal) , chemistry , chromatography , organic chemistry
The thermoplastic explosive (TE‐T7005) was developed as a General Purpose (GP) Insensitive High Explosive (IHE) candidate due to a number of factors including: low small scale sensitivity characteristics; low processing cost; theoretical high performance; re‐meltability (with associated economic and environmental benefits); and potential endothermic characteristics during cook‐off. Theoretical high performance and excellent cook‐off characteristics were verified with subsequent large scale tests (1‐4) . This paper will report on large‐scale fragment impact sensitivity test results for the composition TE‐T7005. Fragment cubes measuring 1.27 cm×1.27 cm×1.27 cm were fired at and impacted two separate test units (loaded with the explosive TE‐T7005) at an average velocity of 8670 ft/s (2643.6 m/s). Each reaction was judged to be a brief burning that was not sustained. No blast pressures from the reaction of the test units were detected, indicating that no significant reaction occurred. The reaction response was somewhat milder compared with HTPB analogs of TE‐T7005 (5) .