Comparison of the Influence of Temperature on the High-Strain-Rate Mechanical Responses of PBX 9501 and EDC37

• Published in: Metallurgical and materials transactions. A, Physical metallurgy and materials science Physical metallurgy and materials science, 2008-03, Vol.39 (3), p.535-538
• Main Authors: Govier, R.K., Gray, G.T., Blumenthal, W.R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Composite materials; Exact sciences and technology; Explosives; Free radicals; Materials Science; Metallic Materials; Metals. Metallurgy; Nanotechnology; Particle size; Polymers; Stress state; Structural Materials; Surfaces and Interfaces; Symposium: Dynamic Behavior of Materials; Temperature; Thin Films
• ISSN: 1073-5623; 1543-1940
• DOI: 10.1007/s11661-007-9430-0

Many high-strain-rate compression measurements (2000 per second) using a specially designed split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) for the plastic-bonded explosive PBX9501 have been reported in the literature, but there is a sparsity of data for a United Kingdom polymer-bonded explosives (PBX) known as EDC37. Both EDC37 and PBX9501 are cyclotetramethylenetetranitramine-based (HMX-based) PBXs with high filler contents. The binder systems for the PBXs are very different: EDC37 consists of a nitroplasticized nitrocellulose and PBX9501 a nitroplasticized ESTANE. PBX9501 exhibits nearly invariant fracture strains of ∼1.5 pct as a function of temperature at high strain rates, whereas EDC37 fails at ∼2 to 2.5 pct. The maximum compressive strengths for both PBXs were measured at 150 Mpa at −55 °C, but at +55 °C, the PBX was found to have a maximum strength of ∼55 MPa compared with ∼20 MPa for EDC37. Both PBXs exhibit an increasing loading moduli, E , with increasing strain rate or decreasing temperature.