Studies on Initiation and Energy Release Characteristics of Polymer Bonded Explosives Under Low-Velocity Impacts

Impact initiation may result in deaths and injuries, economic losses, and the failure of explosive weapons during attack or defense. In this paper, we investigate the non-shock initiation and energy release properties of a typically insensitive booster composition, PBX-JH14C, at low velocity impact. This projectile filled with PBX-JH14C specimen was launched into this test chamber by penetrating the aluminum plate and impacting against the rear plate, and a series of experiments were conducted under the velocities of 97.7–294.6 m/s. The low-velocity impact initiation condition and energy release characteristics of PBX-JH14C material were evaluated by the impact velocity, the impact pressure, and the maximum pressure inside the experimental chamber. This experiment revealed the critical low-velocity impact initiation conditions of PBX-JH14C. In addition, the relationship between the maximum pressure in the reaction chamber and the reaction efficiency was deduced, whereby the influence of the maximum pressure in the reaction chamber on the reaction efficiency of PBX-JH14C was analyzed quantitatively.