A Simple Approach to Assess the Performance of Non‐ideal Aluminum/Ammonium Perchlorate Composite Explosives as Compared to the Best Available Methods

Abstract

Composite explosives containing aluminum/ammonium perchlorate (Al/AP) are widely used for blasting cut of old warship, blasting droll and decoupled charge of blast underwater. The available complex computer codes and empirical methods cannot usually provide a reliable estimation of detonation velocities of explosives containing Al/AP. This work introduces a reliable method for the desk calculation of detonation velocity. The percent of the reacted Al with detonation products and decomposition of AP, as well as composition of the detonation products, are specified according to the distribution of oxygen atoms between Al, C(s), CO(g) and H2(g). The values of the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of the new model are lower than one of the best available methods for CHNO explosives (260 experimental data) and CHNOFCl explosives (50 measured data). For composite explosives, CHNOFClAl and CHNOFClAlAP, the MAPE value of the new model is 3.50, corresponding to 55 experimental data, which is much smaller than the MAPE values of the BKW computer code (8.37) and the comparative empirical model (14.20).

Determining energetic characteristics and selecting environmentally friendly components for solid rocket propellants at the early stages of design

“…It is convenient to search for new energetic materials taking into consideration the approaches inherent in thermodynamics and molecular engineering [12], in particular using well-known procedures for calculating such energetic characteristics as heat of explosion and explosive reaction temperature, specific impulse, etc. Thus, the authors of [13] proposed a reliable method for calculating the detonation rate of mixture explosives containing AP and aluminum. The method is based on the use of formation enthalpy values (ΔH f ) of individual components, the number of moles of gaseous decomposition products, the average molecular weight of gaseous products, and the density of explosives.…”

“…Numerous thermochemical programs are used to determine the thermodynamic characteristics of ESM, for example, BKW, TIGER, PANDA, JCZS, NASA CEA, TERRA, ISPBKW, CHEETAH, Explo5 [12,13]. However, these programs imply the application of many initial parameters that the user should provide: the magnitude of enthalpy and entropy, the initial pressure in the engine combustion chamber, the volume, temperature, and concentration of explosive conversion products, etc.…”