The Analysis of surface free energy of RDX/EVA from contact angle measurements

접촉각 측정에 의한 RDX/EVA의 표면 에너지 해석

Plastic bonded explosive(PBX) is mainly composed of the nitramine explosives, RDX, HMX, and polymer binders. When the adhesion between nitramine crystals and binder is not particularly strong and can be failed under stress, dewetting occurs rather suddenly and this leads to a significant drop in tensile strength of explosives. Mechnical property of plastic bonded explosive depends on the surface characteristics of filler and binder. In order to design for better adhesion, an understanding of the surface properties of explosive and binder is essential. In this study, 2 kinds of RDX and 4 kinds of ethylene vinyl acetate copolymers are selected, since they are widely used in many plastic bonded explosives. The technical objective of this investigation is to calculate for the surface free energy of RDX and EVA using theory of Fowkes, van Oss, Neumann approaches and Kaelble equation and to predict the interaction between filler and binder from their surface free energies.