Effect of charge diameter on the burning rate of explosives

Abstract

Zel'dovich's theory of the combustion of gases gives a satisfactory description of the relation between the burning rate of methyl nitrate at 20° and nitroglycol at 40° and tube diameter when transfer of heat through the walls of the tube to the unreacted material can be neglected (the liquid burns in a thin-walled glass tube immersed in water). The ratio of the adiabatic to the critical burning rates (uad/ucr) is close to the value predicted by theory for methyl nitrate (1.50) and significantly smaller for nitroglycol (1.25). A possible explanation is instability associated with the thermal inertia of the heated zone [11].