Abstract
Thermal ignition via self-heating (cook-off) of cyclotetramethylene-tetranitramine (HMX)-containing plastic-bonded explosives (PBXs) is driven by the β → δ phase transition in the HMX, which is affected if not dominated by microstructure. Here, the HMX-binder interface and phase transition were studied for several variations of PBX 9404 (HMX with plasticized nitrocellulose [NC] binder). Neutron reflectometry was used to examine the interface under several conditions—pristine, after aging, and after thermal treatment. The initial interfacial structure depended on the plasticizer, but the interface homogenized over time. Thermal and optical analyses showed that all formulated materials had higher transition temperatures than neat HMX. This effect increased with NC content.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 13-28 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | Journal of Energetic Materials |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 2 2018 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
Some initial studies on these materials were assisted by Saurabh Singh and performed at the Lujan Neutron Scattering Center at LANSCE funded by the DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences. Funding for the remainder of this work was provided by the National Nuclear Security Administration Science Campaign 2. The authors wish to thank D. Hooks and G. Parker (LANL) for helpful technical discussions and M. Sandstrom and V. Hamilton (LANL) for assisting with thermal experiments. Los Alamos National Laboratory, an affirmative action equal opportunity employer, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, for the National Nuclear Security Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE-AC52-06NA25396.
Keywords
- HMX
- PBX
- neutron reflectometry
- phase transformation