Burn rates of pristine and degraded explosives at elevated temperatures and pressures

We measure the Laminar burn rates of explosives at extreme conditions (up to 520K and 1 GPa) in a hybrid strand burner, to provide reaction rate data for prediction of violence of thermal response. Data from a series of HMX-based explosives show that explosives with high binder content (15 wt%) burn smoothly over the entire pressure range regardless of particle size, while explosives with less binder eventually transition to a rapid erratic burn 10-100 times faster. When heated to ~ 440K, an HMX formulation with fine particles and 15% binder exhibits different burning behav- ior depending on the details of the temperature-pressure history, apparently as a result of the {beta} {yields} {delta} phase transition in HMX. Burn rates can be increased by 1000-fold under certain conditions