BURNING RATES OF POLYMER-BONDED EXPLOSIVES

This paper details the development of experiments to measure the burning rate of polymer-bonded explosives (PBX) as a function of pressure. To aid in the development of a burn to violent reaction (BVR) modelling capability, a key need is for data on the burn rate of the energetic material over the pressure range 0-1000 MPa. These data can be used to validate any model developed and also to aid in the development of BVR models. Therefore the closed-vessel test was used to provide data on the burn rate of three PBX compositions. The three PBX compositions contained 70-80% 1,3,5-trinitroperhydro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX). One PBX composition contained fine RDX only, another contained coarse RDX only, and the third contained a mixture of fine and coarse RDX. Burn rates up to 600 MPa have been successfully measured and agree favorably with those reported in the open literature.