Shock-wave properties of emulsion matrix at various concentrations of glass microspheres

There has been conducted research of shock-wave properties of an emulsion explosive (EE) based on ammonium nitrate, with the concentration of hollow glass microspheres ranging from 0% to 4 wt%. Shock waves in the studied samples were created by aluminum plates, which were accelerated by explosion products to speeds of 0.6 to 5 km/s. The wave velocity profiles were measured using a VISAR laser Doppler interferometer at the boundary with the water window or when the shock wave exited the free surface. The processed experimental data provided the basis for making the Hugoniots of the investigated compounds. An assessment of the dependence of the sound velocity on pressure for an emulsion matrix has been made. At low pressures, the mixture of the emulsion matrix and the microspheres feature the formation of a two-wave configuration. It is demonstrated that the increase of microspheres concentration causes a rapid decrease of activation threshold of explosive transformation, and at 4% of microspheres the said threshold value is below 1.1 GPa.