Understanding the Desensitizing Mechanism of Olefin in Explosives versus External Mechanical Stimuli

Abstract

The desensitizing mechanism of amorphous olefin in a typical explosive HMX against external mechanical stimuli was investigated by loading uniaxial compression and shear on four cells composed of pure HMX, pure olefin, HMX + 3 wt % olefin, and HMX + 9 wt % olefin, respectively. As a result, it was confirmed that the mechanism under the loading conditions is predominantly attributed to the good lubricating property of olefin, which can greatly reduce shear stress denoted by shear sliding barriers. At the same time, the addition of a little olefin in HMX, for example, below 10 wt %, cannot obviously improve the compressibility of HMX-based explosives. It therefore indicates the lowered mechanical sensitivity is not caused by improving compressibility. In addition, my simulations did not show that the more olefin added in HMX results in the more evident desensitizing effect, suggesting a critical point of the component of HMX + olefin corresponding to a lowest shear stress.