Initiation and development of detonation as a result of the action of weak shock waves on liquid explosives

Abstract

Clearly, in handling liquid explosives safely it is important to take into account, among other things, their actual physical state. Whereas for most liquid explosives the initiating pressures for simple homogeneous compression are high (60–120 kbar); in the presence of cavitation the same liquids exploded at relatively low pressures (about 0.1–10 kbar) and, in their sensitivity to waves shock, resemble (or may even be inferior to) powdered explosives (according to [16] the initiating pressure for PETN at a density of 1.0 g/cm3 is 2.5 kbar). Under favorable conditions, especially if the vessel is capable of conducting elastic disturbances, the development of explosion in liquids leads to a low-velocity detonation which may subsequently resolve into normal detonation. In this respect, the propagation of low-velocity regimes in liquids is very similar to the propagation of low-velocity detonation in powdered explosives. Our present lack of definite ideas, about the specific reaction initiation mechanism associated with the collapse of cavities in liquids places considerable diffculties in the way of any quantitative analysis of the experimental data on the excitation and propagation of explosions.