Evaluation studies on partial replacement of RDX by spherical NTO in HTPB-based insensitive sheet explosive formulation

ABSTRACT

Hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene (HTPB)-based sheet explosive incorporating spherical 3-nitro-1,2,4-triazol-5-one (NTO) as a partial replacement of 1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazinane (RDX) was investigated. The effect of incorporation of NTO on mechanical properties, sensitivity behavior, and velocity of detonation (VOD) was studied in comparison with a sheet explosive formulation containing 82 wt% RDX, both based on an HTPB-binder system. The replacement of 22 wt% of RDX by spherical NTO resulted in reduced vulnerability to shock as well as impact stimuli. The data demonstrated that the NTO-added formulation was found to be higher shock insensitive compared to the RDX-only formulation. However, ~5% decrease in VOD was observed on incorporation of NTO. Further, the sheet explosive formulations were found insensitive toward friction up to 360 N. Also, molecular dynamics simulations were performed to predict the elastic constants of RDX and NTO and the results revealed that the predicted trend correlated with the experimentally obtained mechanical properties of the formulations.

KEYWORDS:

• Sheet explosive
• spherical NTO
• shock sensitivity
• explosive reactive armor (ERA)

Acknowledgments

The authors thank KPS Murthy, outstanding scientist and Director, HEMRL, Pune for his support and encouragement during the course of this study. The authors also thank Dr Mehilal for his valuable suggestions.