Influence of particle size of aluminum powder and morphology of oxidizer in RDX based aluminized explosive on the ability of accelerating metal (I)

Formulations of aluminized explosives containing micrometer and nanometer aluminum powder respectively were Designed, and their abilities of accelerating metal plate were investigated by VISAR interferometer. After introduction of nanometer aluminum powder free surface velocity of metal plate was larger and reaction time was decreased by 35.1% compared to that of normal aluminized explosives. These results demonstrated that nanometer aluminum powder in aluminized explosives had higher degree of chemical reaction in detonation reaction zone and better work ability. To understand the influence of morphology of oxidizer AP on performance of aluminized explosive, RDX/Al composite was made by physical-chemical method. Compared to mechanical mixing RDX/Al, it had different X-ray diffraction characteristics and different thermal decomposition behavior analyzed by DTA. The ability of metal acceleration of aluminized explosive made from RDX/Al composite was larger and detonation reaction time shorter than that made from mechanical mixing RDX/Al, thus the work ability of aluminized explosive was improved. Furthermore, the performance of aluminized explosive with oxygen-enriched explosive to substitute RDX was investigated. As a result, the ability of accelerating metal plate was 10% larger than that of RDX/Al composite explosive.