Detonation failure diameter studies of four liquid nitroalkanes

Abstract

Studies of detonation failure were made on four liquid nitroalkanes (nitromethane, 1,1-dinitroethane, 1,1-dinitropropane, and 2,2-dinitropropane) under the extreme conditions of lead block confinement and Dremin’s weak shell confinement. Shock-induced reaction times and failure wave velocities in decaying detonation waves were also measured and used in the Dremin–Trofimov model to calculate the failure diameters of the these unconfined liquids. The Dremin–Trofimov model gave good values of the unconfined failure diameters when the Chapman–Jouget (CJ) pressures were accurately known and the experimental shock-induced reaction times and failure wave velocities were used in the calculations.