Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Behaviour of compressed thermite

mabuse_ - 21-12-2011 at 04:51

Hi,

as we all know pyrotechnical mixtures' burning speeds are dependent on the materials packing density as ignition is carried through the material by convection via hot gas.

How does that apply to thermites, what role does the surrounding air play and how would you expect it to behave in compressed state?

If the heat is mostly carried by liquid metal I would expect it to burn faster when compacted... what do you think?



Bot0nist - 21-12-2011 at 05:08

Are you talking DDT, or explosive train initiation?

[Edited on 21-12-2011 by Bot0nist]

mabuse_ - 21-12-2011 at 08:23


Quote:

Are you talking DDT, or explosive train initiation?


No. Not that nanostuff. Just "normal" homemade thermite.


Well actually you went in the right direction, as I just read through the NONEL NPED patents. They use thermite to provoke PETN to DDT.
I just wondered about the very fast reaction time without the delay fitted - that thermite must burn really fast, and it's pressed.
In the german version they mention a reaction time under 4ms.

Bot0nist - 21-12-2011 at 08:28

What I meant was, are you curious about how compressed thermite will respond to flame ignition or a primary + booster compound cap initiation?

mabuse_ - 21-12-2011 at 13:38

The former.

Neil - 21-12-2011 at 14:14

The more packed it is the slower it burns, like BP.

mabuse_ - 17-2-2012 at 10:19

Seems like your right, mine shows that behaviour.