Study on the performance of sodium borohydride-containing emulsion explosives

This study developed a novel emulsion explosive containing sodium borohydride (NaBH4). The effects of NaBH4 content on the performance of the emulsion explosive were investigated using methods such as brisance, density measurements, and theoretical calculations. Additionally, the thermal decomposition characteristics of the emulsion explosive samples were examined through thermogravimetric analysis. Results indicated that as the NaBH4 content increased, the density of the explosive initially increased and then decreased, while the heat of explosion continuously increased. The brisance of the emulsion explosives is stable under different temperature conditions ranging from 20 to 30 . At 25, the brisance initially increased and then decreased, reaching a maximum value of 22.4 mm at a NaBH4 content of 5%, which represents a 50.33% improvement compared to ordinary emulsion explosives. The TG curves of all samples exhibited consistent trends. Under the same heating rate, the initial decomposition temperature of the emulsion explosive increased with the addition of NaBH4.