Resistive Heating and Thermal Decomposition of an RDX-Based Additively Manufacturable Electrically Conductive Explosive Composite*

The electrically conductive polymer poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) has been combined with the explosive hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro1,3,5-triazine (RDX) to form an electrically conductive, additively manufacturable explosive (CAMX). One desirable feature of electrically conductive energetic materials is the ability to increase their temperature by flowing electrical current though the material. The application of current to the conductive material results in resistive heating that can alter its reaction characteristics. In this study, filament strands of CAMX were subjected to various current-controlled heating profiles which resulted in a range of energetic decomposition. Both gradual and rapid decomposition was investigated and the ability to manipulate the volume % of RDX within the CAMX material was demonstrated using thermal imaging and back surface streak imaging.