All,
I have heard a lot of folks bash the addition of aluminum powder for added energy because it does not react along the detonation wave...
Please see the attached presentations, they are very interesting and show that properly sized, the Al or Si powder can contribute to the Gurney
velocity, and of course greatly increases the energy. The trick is that an energetic plasticizer must be used, not an inert plasticizer. I have
tried Si in ANNM mixtures, it seems to be less sensitive than ANNMAL. One advantage of silicon is it is brittle, making milling easier. I have
thought of pushing the use of silicon for commercial explosives, but Al is still a little cheaper...
http://www.dtic.mil/ndia/2012IMEM/13890anderson10B.pdf
Also, the addition of Al between 10-30% increases the duration of the peak detonation pressure several fold... I know for blasting that even a few
more miliseconds of pressure makes a large difference, hence why a proper amount of clean crushed stemming is used.
|