Mapping the Orientation and Distribution of Defects for the Natural Casting of 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT) in 10kg Anti-tank Landmine Mold

2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT) is an explosive that is well known for its stable nature, performance, and reliability. It is used in the military and mining industries as it can be cast into various shapes due to its ease of processing at its melting temperature of 80 to 82°C. It can be processed safely within melting temperature without the risk of thermal and impact-related initiation. Despite these properties, casting defect-free charges of uniform density is challenging. Hence, there is a need for targeted quality control measures and process optimisation to minimise density variations and defect formation in manufacturing. In this work the defects formation is mapped for a 10 kg anti-tank landmine, this is done by melting and casting TNT into a 10 kg anti-tank landmine fibre glass mould without any controlled cooling method. The melting and cooling temperature profiles of the TNT casing process were manually monitored using an infrared camera and the process was simulated using COMSOL Multiphysics. The resulting cast was characterised by Vidisco foXRayzor Digital X-Ray and Irdium-192 (192lr) radioactive source. The findings from this study depicted a dense structure at the mould’s margins compared to the booster centre. The less dense area also showed a high proportion of defects which were attributed to shrinkage during cooling.