DESENSITIZATION OF HETEROGENEOUS HIGH EXPLOSIVES UNDER INITIATION THROUGH HIGH MODULUS ELASTIC ELEMENTS

Abstract

We have experimentally investigated the influence of fluoroplastic, copper, and silicon carbide inert inserts on the process of detonation transmission through water. Active and passive HE charges were molded from high explosive (HE) Comp. B. The diameter and height of HE cartridges were 40 and 40 mm, respectively. On the rear end of the passive HE charge a steel witness plate was mounted, which detected presence or absence of detonation. Inert inserts were shaped as 20 mm × 20 mm square prisms of varying lengths, and were contained between active and passive HE charges without any clearance on the way of initiating shock wave with partial overlap of HE cross sections. We demonstrate that preloading a passive HE charge with a shock wave transmitted through a copper or a ceramic insert causes considerable desensitization of the Comp. B. Other conditions being the same, the crash distance of detonation transmission for copper was equal to 74%, and for silicon carbide – to 60% of the distance for fluoroplastic. This desensitization phenomenon may be used for development of protective shells for HE. While performing experiments with 20 mm ceramic inserts we have observed unknown cumulation phenomenon, which manifested itself as a hole in identification steel specimen with depth of about 10 mm.