Numerical and experimental study of thermal explosions in LX-10 and PBX 9501: Influence of thermal damage on deflagration processes

We employ in-situ flash x-ray imaging, together with a detailed multiphase convective burn model, to demonstrate how explosives' binder characteristics influence the burning processes in thermal explosions. Our study focuses on the HMX-based explosives LX-10 and PBX 9501. While the HMX (cyclotetramethylene-tetranitramine) crystallite size distributions for these two explosives are nearly identical before heating, our experiments and simulations indicate that after heating, variations result due to differences in binder composition. Post-ignition flash x-ray images reveal that the average density decreases at late times more rapidly in PBX 9501 than LX-10, suggesting a faster conductive burning rate in PBX-9501. Heated permeability measurements in LX-10 and PBX 9501 demonstrate that the binder system characteristics influence the evolution of connected porosity. Once ignited, connected porosity provides pathways for product gas heating ahead of the reaction front and additional surface area for burning, facilitating the transition from conductive to convective burning modes. A multiphase convective burn model implemented in the ALE3D code is used to better understand the influence on burn rates of material properties such as porosity and effective thermally damaged particle size. In this context, particles are defined as gas-impermeable binder-coated crystallites and agglomerations with a set of effective radii reff. Model results demonstrate quantitative agreement with containment wall velocity for confined PBX 9501 and LX-10, and qualitative agreement with density as a function of position in the burning explosive. The model predicts a decrease in post-ignition containment wall velocity with larger radii in reff. These experimental data and model results together provide insight into the initiation and propagation of the reaction wave that defines the convective burn front in HMX-based explosives, a necessary step toward predicting violence under a broad range of conditions.