A comparison of deflagration rates at elevated pressures and temperatures with thermal explosion results

The deflagration rate of HMX-based explosives has previously been correlated with the violence of thermal explosion experiments. In particular, HMX-based materials that experience deconsolidative burning at elevated pressures (i.e. P = 200 - 600 MPa) also produce significantly more violent thermal explosions. We now report deflagration rates at elevated temperatures (i.e. T = 150 - 180C) and moderate pressures (i.e. P = 10 - 100 MPa). These conditions more closely mimic the pressures and temperatures of an explosive shortly after ignition of a thermal explosion. Here, we discuss the deflagration rates of HMX-based explosives at elevated temperatures and their usefulness to predict the thermal explosion violence of the same materials.