Processing, Characterization, and Detonation Testing of Explosive/Wax/Graphite Charges With CL‐20/HMX Cocrystals

ABSTRACT Granulates of explosive/wax/graphite formulations, oktogen/wax/graphite formulation (OWC), hexogen/wax/graphite formulation (HWC), PBX‐formulation of the FhG ICT (PHX) 151, and PHX 153 with 1,3,5,7‐tetranitro‐1,3,5,7‐tetrazocane (HMX), 1,3,5‐trinitro‐1,3,5‐triazinan (RDX), and 2,4,6,8,10,12‐hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane/HMX (CL‐20/HMX) cocrystal were produced by dissolving wax with petroleum benzine, blending and kneading ingredients, and evaporation of solvent or granulates were commercially obtained. The mixtures were pressed into cylinders, and the microstructure and performance of the pressed forms were investigated by means of X‐ray diffraction and small‐scale detonation tests. The granulates consist of 94.5% explosive, 4.5% wax, and 1% graphite. The investigations show different mechanical strengths of embedded explosive crystals, with higher mechanical stability of RDX and cocrystal compared to HMX. Moreover, the cocrystal formulation PHX 153 was less sensitive to friction and impact than the OWC, particularly the friction force increased to 324 N. The small‐scale detonation tests yielded 8.91 km/s and 28.3 GPa detonation velocity and pressure of the cocrystal‐based PHX 153, and thus a significantly increased detonation performance by 0.31 km/s (3.6%) and 1.7 GPa (6.4%) compared to the HMX‐based OWC. Hence, the CL‐20/HMX cocrystal is a promising candidate to increase the detonation performance, for example, of pressed explosive formulations.