SHOCK INITIATION EXPERIMENTS PLUS IGNITION AND GROWTH MODELING OF DAMAGED LX-04 CHARGES

Shock initiation experiments were performed on mechanically and thermally damaged LX‐04 (85% HMX and 15% Viton by weight) to obtain in‐situ manganin pressure gauge data and run distances to detonation at various shock pressures. The LX‐04 charges were damaged mechanically by applying a compressive load of 600 psi for 20,000 cycles, thus creating many small narrow cracks, or by cutting wedge shaped parts that were then loosely reassembled, thus creating a few large cracks. The thermal damaged LX‐04 charges were heated to 190° C for a long enough time for the beta to delta phase transition to occur and then cooled to ambient temperature. Mechanically damaged LX‐04 exhibited only slightly increased shock sensitivity, while the thermally damaged LX‐04 was much more shock sensitive. The pristine LX‐04 Ignition and Growth model, modified only by igniting a larger amount of explosive during shock compression based on the damaged charge density, accurately calculated the increased shock sensitivity of the three damaged charges.