Methods for test charge production and characterization of IM explosives, Part 1: Method development with TNT and GUNTOL

The development of Insensitive Munitions (IM) is today an important development trend in the production of new weapons systems. An ammunition item can reach IM-status in several ways, among which development of new energetic materials or compositions with low sensitivity for exterior stimuli is a central method. However, it is essential that the new energetic materials don't exhibit significantly lower performance characteristics than those which are to be replaced. Hence, characterization of performance on synthesized energetic materials is a significant part of the development process. The report describes efforts in developing improved and simplified methods to manufacture test charges for cylinder expansion tests, lacquering to achieve good attachment to the cylinder inner surface, digital registration of the cylinder wall expansion, and development of computer codes for automatized evaluation of experimental results and determination of performance characteristics. Lacquering of the inner surface of the cylindrical tubes and a controlled continuous cooling have shown good results, both with TNT and with Guntol. If digital recording with the new streak camera will contribute to the development of methods for evaluation and if data analysis can give a higher precision than previous methods cannot be concluded at present, but they provide a simpler and faster procedure. When the streak camera software has been updated, and the camera has been adjusted and calibrated, additional cylinder expansion tests will be performed. Then the new methods may be employed in continued studies to evaluate performance and sensitivity of potential insensitive high explosives.