Influences of FOX-7 and NTO on the metal driven ability and underwater explosion power of HMX-based aluminized explosives

In order to investigate the metal driven abilities of two newly HMX-based aluminized explosives (XL: 31% HMX, 31% FOX7, 30% Al, 8% binder; EL: 31% HMX, 31% NTO, 30% Al, 8% binder), multiple cylinder tests were conducted to gain the cylinder wall expansion process and evaluate Gurney energy. Then the parameters of JWL-Miller equation of state were determined based on experimental expansion data. For evaluating the underwater explosion power of XL and EL, we numerically simulated the propagation of shock wave and bubble pulsation under water. The experimental and modeling results showed that the metal driven ability and underwater explosion overpressures of XL were obvious better than EL, but the specific bubble energy of XL was only about 3% higher than EL. Compared with NTO, FOX-7 better improve metal driven capacity, underwater explosion power and secondary combustion rate of aluminized explosives. Those conclusions may provide useful suggestions for designing HMX-based insensitive aluminized explosives.