The effect of Al/O ratio on underwater explosion shock wave of aluminium-containing explosives

The underwater explosion parameters (shock wave energy, bubble energy and assemble energy) of two kinds of aluminum-containing explosives (RDX/Al/Wax and AP/RDX/Al) were measured in the experiments. The Al/O ratios of the explosives were calculated. It has been found that the shock wave energies of the two explosives are maximized underwater when the Al/O ratio is about 0.4. In addition, the effect of Al/O ratio of RDX/TNT/Al/Wax explosive on the underwater shock wave energy was calculated and analyzed, and the same influencing law mentioned above was obtained. The research results show that the sequence of the explosives with maximum shock wave energies is AP/RDX/Al, RDX/Al/Wax and RDX/TNT/Al/Wax. The laws offer a scientific foundation to the compositions design of explosives for underwater weapons.