A new computer code to evaluate detonation performance of high explosives and their thermochemical properties, part I.

In this paper a new simple user-friendly computer code, in Visual Basic, has been introduced to evaluate detonation performance of high explosives and their thermochemical properties. The code is based on recently developed methods to obtain thermochemical and performance parameters of energetic materials, which can complement the computer outputs of the other thermodynamic chemical equilibrium codes. It can predict various important properties of high explosive including velocity of detonation, detonation pressure, heat of detonation, detonation temperature, Gurney velocity, adiabatic exponent and specific impulse of high explosives.

Prediction of shock sensitivity of explosives based on small-scale gap test.

A new method is described to predict shock sensitivity of C(a)H(b)N(c)O(d) explosives without using any experimental data. It can determine shock sensitivity based on small-scale gap test as the pressure required to initiate material pressed to 90%, 95% and 98% of theoretical maximum density. Three essential parameters would be needed in the new scheme which contain a+b/2-d, the existence of alpha-C-H linkage in nitroaromatic compounds or NNO(2) functional group and difference of the number of amino and nitro groups attached to aromatic ring.