Development of a Detonation Profile Test for Studying Aging Effects in LX-17

A new small-scale Detonation Profile Test (DPT) is being developed to investigate aging effects on the detonation behavior of insensitive high explosives. The experiment involves initiating a small LX-17 cylindrical charge (12.7-19.1 mm diameter x 25.4-33 mm long) and measuring the velocity and curvature of the emerging detonation wave using a streak camera. Results for 12.7 mm diameter unconfined LX-17 charges show detonation velocity in the range between 6.79 and 7.06 km/s for parts up to 33 mm long. Since LX-17 can not sustain detonation at less than 7.3 km/s, these waves were definitely failing. Experiments with confined 12.7 mm diameter and unconfined 19.1 mm diameter samples showed wave velocities in the range of 7.4-7.6 km/s, values approaching steady state conditions at infinite diameter. Experiments with unconfined 19.1 mm diameter specimens are expected to provide reproducible and useful range of detonation parameters suitable for studying aging effects.