Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Multiscale Deformation And Failure Behavior Of Polymer Bonded Explosives Subjected To High Rate Loading, Suraj Muthiramalil Ravindran

Theses and Dissertations

Polymer bonded explosives (PBX) are heterogeneous granular composites with a high-volume fraction of solid. Typically, they contain 80-95% explosive crystals and 5- 20% soft polymer binder. These materials are subjected to different loading conditions during their service life. The main function of the soft binder is to reduce shock sensitivity to prevent an accidental explosion. However, there have been inadvertent detonations in these materials during transportation and handling. The reason for such unintentional explosion is not well understood. It is commonly accepted that the formation of local hightemperature regions, called ‘hot spots’, is the primary cause. Hotspot formation is associated …