Research of Underwater Explosive Characteristics of Various Biomass Materials Under Ultrahigh Pressure Oxygen

ABSTRACT This study verified through detonation velocity experiments that three biomass materials—wood powder, weed powder, and pine needle powder—can achieve sustained detonation under ultrahigh‐pressure oxygen conditions. The detonation velocities followed the hierarchy: wood powder > weed powder > pine needle powder, aligning with reaction kinetics results from thermogravimetric analysis. To investigate oxygen concentration effects on energy distribution and material‐specific variations, pressure‐time curves were obtained using an underwater explosion apparatus at different oxygen pressures of 6, 7, and 8 MPa. Analysis of these curves yielded impulse, specific shock energy, and specific bubble energy data. Results indicate that all three parameters increased with oxygen pressure for all materials, with wood powder exhibiting the highest values across all three parameters under 8 MPa oxygen pressure. Although pine needle and weed powders showed comparable impulse and bubble energy to wood powder, their specific shock wave energy remained significantly lower. Furthermore, the ratio of bubble energy to shock energy decreased with rising oxygen pressure for all materials, with wood powder demonstrating the smallest ratio. These findings collectively demonstrate that wood powder's explosive characteristics more closely resemble conventional explosives, making it a more viable explosive substitute compared to the other two biomass materials.