Compressive Behavior of Simulated Explosive-Filled Composites

Historically, adhesion research related to energetic materials has been focused on examining the interaction between explosive crystals and the substrate of interest. However, this neglects the effects of the binder material in compounds such as Composition C-4. These types of explosives are actually agglomerates comprised of the energetic particulate material and some manner of liquid binder. In the case of Composition C-4, the energetic material is RDX (cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine) bound by a “liquid” mixture of rubber, plasticizer, and oil. By creating a simulant with the same mechanical properties as ‘live’ compounds, we may understand how the live materials behave during swabbing, improving the ability of swabbing in a security environment to effectively detect these non-ideal plastic explosives. Previous work to this effect has attempted to quantify the effects of applied force, while assuming a constant swipe speed. However, our results indicate that not only is the binder itself non-Newtonian, but the overall agglomerate behaves in a non-Newtonian manner, as well. Hence, the swipe speed could perhaps be one of the principal factors in optimizing contact-based sampling.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Chemical Engineering

Year

2015

Author dc:creator

• Sweat, Melissa L.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Stephen P Beaudoin
• Steve F Son
• James Caruthers
• James D Litster
• Farshid Sadeghi

• compression
• explosives
• granulation
• granule behavior

Repository record dc:identifier

https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_dissertations/1150

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:docs.lib.purdue.edu:open_access_dissertations-2366