Particle coating – a novel trend in energetic materials engineering

The development of new energetic materials with enhanced blast properties requires better understanding of factors as particle type, size and particle/matrix distribution. The ability of growing a coating on particles opens new possibilities in energetic materials engineering. Functionalities as ingredient compatibility, increased burning rates and accelerated or delayed ignition become possible upon applying versatile coatings. TNO Defence, Security and Safety investigates the required technologies for the development and production of a new class of shock insensitive, blast enhanced explosives based on modified/functionalized (energetic) materials. The contours of the underlying research program are briefly presented. This program includes e.g. the development of coated materials like Al powder. Using plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) technology, test powder is coated with SiOx containing layers (with HMDSO as a precursor) and fluorinated layers (with C2F6 as a precursor). The results are presented and discussed