A New Testing Method for the Mechanical Properties of Elastic Explosive Compositions

In recent years, Polymer Bonded Explosives (PBX) have been used in a wide variety of military applications. Many different kinds of polymers are used for such explosive formulations. This component determines both the preparation method and the properties of a PBX. In this paper, results are presented of studies on the preparation and testing of explosive compositions based on pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN, penthrite) and silicone rubber. These studies were undertaken to obtain elastic formulations of PBXs. Therefore, the possibility of applying a silicone rubber as a component of the composition was checked. In the first stage of this study, several compositions were prepared in order to choose the optimal mixture ratio with respect to cohesion of the explosive. For this purpose, a new method using the Brookfield Texture Analyser was developed. Subsequently, compatibility tests using thermal analysis methods were carried out. The best of composition was subjected to tests for determining its physicochemical and explosive characteristics.