Damage in Polymer Bonded Energetic Composites: Effect of Loading Rate

Rachael L Boddy,David M Williamson,Andrew P Jardine,Peter J Gould

doi:10.1007/s40870-016-0050-x

Abstract

The authors wish to acknowledge financial support in the form of an Industrial CASE PhD Studentship for RLB funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and by QinetiQ [EP/I501290/1]; UK MOD via a WSTC contract; DMW and APJ acknowledge the financial support of AWE.

Highlights

Particulate composites are widely used in the materials world
In the present experimental study, fine and coarse grained RDXHTPB composites have been used to investigate the effect of loading rate on the degree of damage produced in polymer bonded explosives subjected to varying degrees of uniaxial compression
D takes on a meaning which relates to the probability of a particle being debonded, a process described by a simple Arrhenius relation comparing the specific mechanical energy imparted to the sample, w, to a damage activation energy term, w0, given by

Summary

Introduction

Particulate composites are widely used in the materials world. An understanding of their damage behaviour under a variety of loading conditions is necessary to inform models of their response to external stimuli. Particulate composites are widely used in the materials world, and in particular polymer bonded particulate composites are one of the most common types of consolidated energetic material Such materials are typically composed of crystalline organic energetic filler particles bound in a plasticized polymeric binder system. They are intended to initiate only in response to an intentional stimulus, when these materials are subjected to mechanical insult, the micromechanical changes which occur within them (damage) have been shown to increase their sensitivity to further stimuli, and the likelihood of unintended reaction [1, 2]. The Porter-Gould damage model assumes that the mechanical energy delivered during a damage event acts to successively debond filler particles at an increasing (but finite) number of damage sites which are distributed homogeneously throughout the material, and to reduce the stiffness of the composite. D takes on a meaning which relates to the probability of a particle being debonded, a process described by a simple Arrhenius relation comparing the specific mechanical energy imparted to the sample, w, to a damage activation energy term, w0, given by ERðwÞ

Methods

Results

Conclusion