Plane Shock Initiation of an RDX Plastic-Bonded Explosive

Abstract

The plane‐wave shock initiation of a plastic‐bonded RDX explosive, initial density 1.60 g/cc, has been investigated by measurement of shock buildup to detonation using the explosive wedge technique. Impedance‐match techniques were employed to determine the pressure and particle velocity associated with the shock in the explosive. Using a graphical representation in which the shock distance and time coordinates are referred to the beginning of detonation, a similarity between overlapping portions of buildup curves from different experiments, having different initial shock pressures, has been observed. While closer study of the data of this paper did not support the assumption of identical buildup curves, certain implications of such behavior, which have relevance to various models of initiation, are subject to experimental evaluation.