High Energy Materials (HEMs) is a generic/umbrella term which is used for explosives, propellants & pyrotechnics and form an integral part of almost all weapon systems. A large number of HEMs have been reported in the literature in last few decades. This review paper discusses these HEMs in the light of a new classification of explosives proposed by Agrawal: Thermally stable or Heat‐resistant explosives, High performance (high density & high velocity of detonation) explosives, Melt‐Castable explosives, Insensitive high explosives (IHEs), Energetic binders & plasticizers and Novel energetic materials synthesized with the use of dinitrogen pentoxide (N2O5) technology. This review also critically examines these HEMs from the angles of scalability, processability, safety, reliability and performance in order to ascertain their potential for applications. In the end, problems associated with the use of currently available energetic materials & their likely solutions and areas for further research are also highlighted.
There are 4 general approaches for imparting or improving the thermal stability of explosives -'Salt Formation', 'Introduction of Amino Group/s', 'Introduction of Conjugation' & 'Condensation with a Triazole ring' as proposed by Agrawal which were supported by some typical examples. In this review paper, we report additional examples of explosives scattered over in the literature to validate the 'Salt Formation' & 'Introduction of Amino Group/s' approaches for imparting/improving the thermal stability of explosives. Wherever data is not available in the literature, the same has been calculated using Energetic Materials Designing Bench (EMDB), Version 1.0. The data generated on a large number of explosives bring out validation of 'Salt Formation' & 'Introduction of Amino Group/s' approaches for imparting/improving the thermal stability of explosives. Further, as the number of amino group/s increases, thermal stability also increases. In addition, density, impact sensitivity & velocity of detonation data of these explosives which are also essential from their application point of view, have been reported. This study also reveals that explosives TAHNDPA, TADTNPEDA, TADTNPATNB & KTAHND-PA (Table 2) appear to be potentially better thermally stable explosives than TATB, a benchmark thermally stable explosive at present.
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