Groove Charge of a Rigid Multi-Point Initiation Explosive Network

To improve the groove charge density and reduce the initiation synchronicity error of a multi-point initiation explosive network, CL-20/NC and HMX/NC polymer-bonded explosives (PBXs) with 95wt.% ultrafine CL-20 or ultrafine HMX as main explosive, with 5wt.% NC as binder, were prepared. The morphology and crystal of the two PBXs was characterized in scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The critical dimension for linear detonation is 0.9mm for the CL-20/NC PBX and 1.5mm for the HMX/NC PBX, and with the detonation velocity of the former being 36.2% higher than the latter. Hence, the CL-20/NC PBX was selected as groove charge for the multi-point initiation explosive network. An explosive network charging method is proposed that involves groove press-loading charging with three pre-pressed booster pellets as output end charges. This configuration increases the density of the booster charge in the grooves to 1.880gcm(-3) (94% of theoretical density), effectively improving the charging density consistency and lowering the network initiation synchronicity error to less than 100ns. The rod-shaped explosively formed projectile has a small lateral offset and good shape indicating that the synchronization of the optimized explosive network meets the requirement of a selectable shaped charge projectile.