Energetic nanocomposites for detonation initiation in high explosives
without primary explosives
Marc Comet,a) Cédric Martin, Martin Klaumünzer, Fabien Schnell, Denis Spitzer
NS3E laboratory, UMR 3208 CNRS/ISL/UNISTRA, French-German Research Institute of Saint-Louis,
5 rue du Général Cassagnou, 68301 Saint-Louis, France1
MATERIALS
Aluminum nanoparticles (100 nm with a 72.4 % active Al content) were obtain from Intrinsiq Materials. Bismuth sulfate was
purchased from Alfa Aesar (Bi2(SO4)3), Tungsten trioxide (WO3) comes from from Sigma-Aldrich. Acetonitrile, HPLC grade
from Sigma-Aldrich, was used for nanothermite preparation.
PETN comes from SNPE (Société nationale des poudres et des explosifs) F 22 (22µm).
The propagation of the reaction front was observed by high speed video, with a Phantom V 1610 and a Photron SA 4 cameras
operating from 20.103 fr/s to 84.103 fr/s, depending on the observed phenomenon.
FIG. S1. Atomic Force Microscopy of nano-sized RDX use for this study.
a)
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Electronic mail: marc.comet@isl.eu
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FIG. S2. Comparison of the reaction propagation in composite n-WO3/n-Al/RDX materials prepared from micron- and nanosized RDX. Evolution of the distance traveled by the flame front as a function of time for energetic nanocomposite with 20
wt-% of RDX (Left) and 40 wt-% of RDX (Right).
FIG. S3. Deflagration to Detonation Transition Distance (DDTD) depending on RDX content.
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FIG. S4. Photo of the tube load with ~ 100 mg of energetic nanocomposite and 1g PETN (5 pellets).
Table SI. Sensitivity thresholds of energetic nanocomposite used, compared to those of some primary explosives.
Sensitivity
Type of energetic
materials
Nanothermite
Secondary
explosives
Nanocomposite
thermites
Primary explosives
Compositions
UN Recommendations on the
Transport of Dangerous Goods
n-WO3/n-Al
Bi2(SO4)3/n-Al
n-RDX (≈ 100 nm)
µ-RDX (Class I) (≈ 100 µm)
n-WO3/n-Al/n-RDX
12.4/27.6/60 (wt-%)
n-WO3/n-Al/n-RDX
n-RDX: 10 – 90 wt %
n-WO3/n-Al/µ-RDX (Class I)
12.4/27.6/60 (wt %)
Bi2(SO4)3/n-Al/n-RDX
20/20/60 (wt %)
Silver fulminate
Mercury fulminate
Silver azide
Lead azide
Lead styphnate
Impact (J)
Friction (N)
ESD (mJ)
Ref
2
80
156
[1]
49.59
49.59
2.05
4.99
168
168
180
168
0.14
6.1
360
268.69
1.56
72
16.91
1.56 - 34.87
42 - 216
1.85 - 120.74
1.56
80
61.60
1.56
60
16.91
6.48 - 7.47
0.51 - 0.62
1.3
6 - 12
0.04 - 0.14
0.7 - 1.8
0.3 - 2
1.3 - 3.7
0.6-4
2.2 - 5
0.30 - 0.50
1.45
[1] UN Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods: Manual of Test and Criteria, United Nations
ST/SG/AC.10/11/Rev.4/Amend.2, (2008).
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[2]
[2] R. Matyás, J. Pachman, Primary explosives, First Edition, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, (2013).
FIG. S5. Sensitivity thresholds of energetic nanocomposite to Impact (Black), Friction (Red) and Electrostatic Discharge
(Blue), depending on RDX content.
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