RECRYSTALLIZATION AS A TECHNIQUE FOR LOWERING THE SENSITIVITY OF RDX

K., Mohamed M.; S., Mohamed H.; H., Saeed. A.

doi:10.21608/iccee.2008.38492

RECRYSTALLIZATION AS A TECHNIQUE FOR LOWERING THE SENSITIVITY OF RDX

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Egyptian Armed Forces.

² National Authority for Military production.

10.21608/iccee.2008.38492

Abstract

ABSTRACT
RDX is one of the most famous energetic materials. It has excellent properties as a high explosive, energetic additive to rocket and gun propellant and also as a main constituent of the plastic bonded explosives .Its sensitivity to both impact and friction is higher than many of the common used explosives. Safe production and handling need RDX of lower sensitivity. The traditional way of reducing this sensitivity is to add about 5% of the common paraffin wax. The added wax reduces the specific energy output of this important explosive. Controlled recrystallization could also reduce the sensitivity as it alters its purity, morphology and imperfections . Supersaturation of RDX in acetone could be obtained via cooling, solvent evaporation and also via adding cold water as a third component. The obtained crystals were experimentally characterized and the results were presented and discussed.