Effect of Temperature on Shock Initiation of RDX‐Based Aluminized Explosives

Abstract An increase in temperature of an explosive will lead shock sensitivity to change, which affects explosive safety. Therefore, a study of the effect of temperature on the shock initiation of explosives is of great significance. We carried out a series of tests on explosive‐driven flyer‐initiating heated RDX‐based aluminized explosives (61 wt % RDX, 30 wt % Al, 9 wt % binder) and the temperature and input shock pressure of the explosives were controlled accurately during the tests. The pressure histories at different depths inside the explosives were measured by using manganin pressure gauges, and the effect of temperature on detonation wave growth was analysed. The ignition and growth reaction model, some parameters of which rely on temperature, was used to simulate the shock‐initiation processes. The relationship between the model parameters and the temperature were obtained from the experimental results. The run distance to detonation as a function of the initial input pressure in a temperature range, the Pop plot, and the reaction degree of the explosives were determined. For the RDX‐based aluminized explosives, binder softening and the increasing sensitivity of RDX are the two main reasons that change the shock sensitivity. For 25 °C–110 °C, the shock sensitivity decreases with an increase in temperature, mainly because of binder softening. However, for 110 °C–170 °C, the shock sensitivity increases with an increase in temperature, which depends on the increasing sensitivity of the RDX.