Initiation of a detonation of solutions of nitrobenzene in tetranitromethane in an electrical spark discharge channel

Abstract

The purpose of the present work is to study the basic characteristics of excitation of an explosion with spark breakdown of liquid explosives. For the investigations, solutions of nitrobenzene and tetranitromethane were chosen, which are highly sensitive to external actions and have a high degree of uniformity of the composition and small critical detonation propagation diameter. Only results concerning initiation of detonation directly by the spark discharge and not depending on the configuration, sizes and strength of the vessel with the explosive. The results obtained indicate initiation of the explosive in separate hot zones. The distribution of hot zones along the channel is observed in the experiments. The results obtained lead to the conclusion that the magnitude of the energy, liberated in the discharge channel after breakdown, does not affect the development of the detonation process. For a definite form of the dischargers and for a definite composition of the system, the probability of the explosion depends only on the magnitude of the breakdown voltage. Small delays in initiation are caused by the fact that the dimensions of the hot zones are comparable to the size of the critical detonation propagation diameter.