Plastic PETN v Plastic ETN sensitivity
ETN is obviously more sensitive than PETN (not my too much) but PETN is a commercial plastic explosive. Commercial explosives are usually fool proof
relatively speaking, but back when I made explosives, I was able to get my ETN plastic to detonate from hammer blows when it was squished out enough
(when not almost completely flat it would just absorb the hammer blows). It was always a partial detonation and it shot the rest of the plastic away a
little preventing complete detonation. I don't recall if I hit the plastic super hard to attempt full detonation as it's been a long time since this
testing happened.
Does PETN plastic have the potential to detonate from hammer blows too? I imagine so. In the end is there an appreciable difference in sensitivity
between the two plastics? Would stomping on both violently cause a full detonation or does the plasticization phlegmatize them enough to prevent
detonation without a detonator? Results would obviously vary with different factors like crystal size, stiffness of plastic, etc. but generally
speaking.
|