Combustion heat of the Al/B powder and its application in metallized explosives in underwater explosions

Abstract

An underwater explosion test is used to determine the detonation properties of metallized explosives containing aluminum and boron powders. An oxygen bomb calorimeter (PARR 6200 calorimeter, Parr Instrument Company, USA) is used to obtain the heat of combustion of the metal mixtures. As the content of boron powders is increased, the heat of combustion of the metal mixtures increases, and the combustion efficiency of boron decreases. The highest value of the combustion heat is 38.2181 MJ/kg, with the boron content of 40%. All metallized explosive compositions (RDX/Al/B/AP) have higher detonation energy (including higher shock wave energy and bubble energy) in water than the TNT charge. The highest total useful energy is 6.821 MJ/kg, with the boron content of 10%. It is 3.4% higher than the total energy of the RDX/Al/AP composition, and it is 2.1 times higher than the TNT equivalent.