Shock Wave Interaction with Composite Materials

Abstract
A large number of physical and chemical parameters determine the sensitivity of explosives. Special emphasis is placed on the influence of the crystal quality on the initiation process. First the crystal size is considered for monomodal and bimodal distributions. It seems that the Lee-Tarver model is not capable to explain all the experimental observations. Other parameters like the crystal shape, the smoothness of the surface of the crystal, internal defects and dislocations (like voids), and the effect of a binder in a PBX are also discussed. From the experimental results known up to now it is clear that an optimised crystal quality can help to obtain less sensitive explosives. For this the study of the crystallisation process is a key item.