• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.219-230
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• 2000

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.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.96-106
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• 2017

In pressable polymer bonded explosives (PBXs), densification occurs due to rearrangement and deformation of explosive particles during pressing. If brittle explosives are compressed till particle fraction become higher than theoretical random close packing fraction (RCPF), bigger particles should be fractured to fill the void. In this study, multi-modal particle system was introduced for the decrease in possibility of particle fracture during compression expecting decrease in shock sensitivity of highly filled pressable PBX. The experimental results showed the trimodal particle system had low sensitivity with high density, compared to bimodal particle system.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.207-215
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• 2001

Plastic bonded explosive(PBX) is mainly composed of the nitramine-ploymer compositions. PBX is characterized by high velocity and pressure of detonation, low vulnerability and good thermal stability. Many important applications of PBX require the good adhesion between nitramine crystals and the binder. For PBXs as well as propellants, where good mechanical properties are of great importance, dewetting therefore must be prevented by strong adhesion between filler-binder. Adhesion depends on surface characteristics of filler and binder. In order to design for better adhesion, an understanding of the surface properties of explosive and binder is required. The surface free energies are calculated from contact angle values by the method of Kaelble. Critical surface tension of solids are calculated by Zisman plot. Critical surface tension is a useful parameter for characterizing the wettability of solid surface. In this study, HMX and 3 kinds of copolymers are selected, since they are widely used in many plastic bonded explosives. The technical objective of this investigation is to predict the interaction between filler and binder from their surface free energies.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.435-443
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• 2006

The objective of this paper is to provide fundamental information on the subject of high explosives not only to the explosive scientist but also to the chemical engineer. Technologies for the development of high explosives are divided into 5 areas: (1) synthesis of new energetics, (2) preparation of functional explosives, (3) formulation study of plastic bonded explosives, (4) application of high explosives to munitions, (5) demilitarization process. This paper outlines the basic technologies need to understand the high explosives.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.222-229
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• 2024

As the operating condition for the penetrating missile has been more advanced, the survivability of main charge has been strongly required when the warhead impacts the target. Lots of efforts to desensitize explosives such as the development of insensitive molecular explosives or optimizing plastic-bonded explosives(PBX) systems has been made to enhance the survivability of main charge. However, these efforts face their limits as the weapon system require higher performance. Herein, we suggest a new strategy to secure the survivability of main charge. We applied structurally supportable aluminum honeycomb(HC) structure to cast PBX. The aluminum HC structure reinforces the mechanical strength of cast PBX and helps it to withstand external pressure without the reaction like detonation. In this study, impact resistance character, shock sensitivity and internal blast performance of PBXs reinforced with HC structure were investigated according to the application of aluminum HC structure. The newly suggested aluminum HC structure applied to cast PBX was proved to be a promising manufacturing method available for high-tech weapon systems.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.20-29
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• 2001

We recently developed a friability test procedure, which will be used as one of substance tests for Extremely Insensitive Detonating Substances(EIDSs) in Test Series 7 of the United Nations. This test was intended to assess the susceptibility of insensitive explosives to the break-up as high strain rate and subsequent ignition characteristics of the deformed material. We designed an air gun system using the hydro code simulation. The projectile velocities of the gun were in good agreement with those predicted by the hydro code with an inert material. Three different types of explosives, melt castable Comp B, castable plastic bonded explosives(PBXs), and pressable PBXs were tested during the development of the test procedure. Two tastable PBXs, i.e. DXD-09 and DXD-10, which are currently under development as candidate formulations of EIDS were classified as EIDS, since test results with these formulations were far better than the criterion of the UN Test Series 7.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.66-71
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• 2018

The evaluation of the shelf-life of energetic materials is important. However, there are several difficulties associated with the evaluation. First, aging experiments require a considerable amount of time. Second, treating highly energetic materials is dangerous. For these reasons, many evaluation methods have been developed. Because most energetic materials decompose with the evolution of heat, it is important to analyze the thermal properties of energetic materials in order to understand decomposition and aging properties. In this paper, we describe the estimation of thermal aging properties and develop a kinetic model from spot data set of mechanical properties and estimate aging properties for mechanical results.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.55-60
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• 2018

The thermal property is one of the most important characteristics in the field of energetic materials. Because energy materials release decomposition heat, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is frequently used for thermal analysis. However, thermodynamic events, such as melting can interfere with DSC kinetic analysis. In this study, we use isothermal mode for DSC measurement to avoid thermodynamic issues. We also merge accelerating rate calorimetry(ARC) data with DSC data to obtain a robust prediction results for small scale samples and for large scale samples as well. For the thermal property prediction, advanced kinetics and technology solutions(AKTS) programs are used.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.172-178
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• 2017

Thermal property is one of the important characteristic in the field of energetic materials. As the energy material is released during decomposition, DSC(Differential Scanning Calorimetry) is frequently used for the thermal analysis. In case of the dynamic DSC measurements, thermal dynamic change like melting is prevented from the thermal property measurements. And due to the predicting kg scale, the conditions of the heat exchange with the environment significantly is changed. In this study, As the method to resolve the problem, we predict the thermal aging property using the AKTS thermokinetic program from DSC measurements which performed isothermal method. Predicting the thermal aging properties from ARC(Accelerating Rate Calorimetry) measurement, we compare two results.