Influence of energetic plasticizer bis(2,2-dinitropropyl) acetal/formal on properties of ε-CL-20 based pressed polymer-bonded explosives

This work tried to investigate the influence of energetic plasticizer bis(2,2-dinitropropyl) acetal/formal (BDNPA/F) on sensitivity, processing and detonation properties as well as thermal stability of ε-2,4,6,8,10,12-hexanitro-2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaazaisowurtzitane (ε-CL-20) based pressed polymer bonded explosives (PBXs), and determine the relationship between them. ε-CL-20 based pressed PBXs (CBPPs) using cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) as binder and BDNPA/F as plasticizer were prepared. The surface topography, impact sensitivity, charge density and detonation velocity of CBPPs were characterized. In addition, accelerating rate calorimetry (ARC) was used to determine the thermal stability of CBPPs. The results showed that the addition of BDNPA/F could greatly improve the deformation property, density and energetic character of CAB matrices, and thus could significantly improve the sensitivity, processing and detonation properties of CBPPs. Moreover, the ARC results showed that BDNPA/F had no obvious effect on the thermal stability of CBPPs. When the mass fraction of BDNPA/F in CAB matrices was 0.6, the relative density, density, detonation velocity and initial decomposition temperature of the CBPPs were 98.2%, 1.949 g/cm³, 9210 m/s and 180.4 °C, respectively, indicating superior processing and detonation properties as well as good thermal stability. Meanwhile, this work could also support a useful guidance for the plasticizer selection of CBPPs.