Detonation Sensitivity of Thermally Damaged PBX 9501*

Polymer bonded explosives (PBXs) are a combination of high explosives (HE) and an energetic and/or inert binder. In the case of PBX 9501, the HE is 95% octogen (HMX) and the binder is 2.5% BDNPA-F and 2.5% estane. To study how damage may affect the detonation sensitivity of this HE we exploited the beta-to-delta transition that PBX 9501 goes through above 150 ^oC. This crystalline transition is accompanied by a volume expansion that remains when the HE is cooled to room temperature. We thermally damaged multiple HE samples to various temperatures and then performed (5) multi-slug gas gun experiments to study how the initiation sensitivity changed. Computed tomography was also collected before and after thermal damage to observe the effect on the morphology of the samples.

 

LA-UR-23-20555