Formulation Development of Dial-A-Drive PETN-Based Explosives

Hot-spot mechanisms at the grain-scale play an important role in explosive behavior, especially in shock initiation sensitivity, and detonation properties coupled to shock-initiability.To better understand how dilution of energetic concentration affects communication between hot-spots, and thus its performance, we investigated the detonation properties of dilute plastic bonded explosives (PBX) comprised of 20-60 wt.% PETN in a silicone-based polymeric binder.With the intention of probing low performance in dilute PBX formulations, we attempted to get a formulation with a P CJ as low as 3 GPa and a D vel of 3 mm/s as well as cast densities within 3% of the theoretical maximum density to ensure consistent void-volume control.