Shear initiated reactions in energetic and reactive materials

Deformation of energetic materials may cause undesired reactions and therefore hazardous situations. The deformation of an energetic material and in particular shear deformation is studied in this paper. Understanding of the phenomena leading to shear initiation is not only necessary to explain for example the response of munitions to intrusions or large deformations imposed in storage and transportation accidents. A fundamental understanding of shear initiation also provides the opportunity to initiate energetic materials in a different and controlled manner, and possibly with a tailored reaction rate of the material. Several small and large scale experiments have been performed in which a shear deformation is imposed onto high explosives as well as thermite based reactive materials. Experiments are numerically simulated in order to correlate small and large scale experiments and understand the initiation mechanisms. © 2006 Materials Research Society