Shock Initiation of “Virgin” and “Recycled” PBX 9502 Measured with Embedded Electromagnetic Particle Velocity Gauges

We have completed a series of shock initiation experiments on two types of PBX 9502 (95 weight % dry aminated TATB explosive 5 weight % Kel‐F 800 binder). “Virgin” PBX 9502 contains 100% newly formulated material. “Recycled” PBX 9502 contains 50% new material and 50% ground up PBX 9502 machining scraps. It was formulated because of the expense of manufacturing TATB. Experiments were performed on a two stage gas gun at Los Alamos. Samples were prepared with ten or eleven embedded electromagnetic particle velocity gauges to measure the evolution of the wave leading up to a detonation. Additionally, one to three shock tracker gauges were used to track the position of the shock front with time and determine the point where detonation was achieved. Analysis yielded particle velocity ‐ shock velocity (US −uP) Hugoniot points and run distances and times to detonation as a function of initial pressure. All results are consistent with previously published results on a different lot of Virgin PBX 9502 which were obtained with different experimental techniques. No significant differences in the shock sensitivity of the two formulations were observed.