The Applicability of Kamlet’s Method for the Prediction of the Velocity of Detonation (VOD) of Polyurethane (PU) Based Binary Explosive Compositions

The velocity of detonation (VOD) of polyurethane (PU) based binary explosive compositions is assessed by Kamlet’s method and compared with experimental results for a few compositions. These compositions are used as booster compositions for the initiation of main charges and the velocity of detonation is determined empirically for compositions with explosives like RDX, HMX, TATB, FOX-7, CL-20. For some of the compositions, the VOD was determined experimentally and found to match the predicted values. For RDX/PU (95/5) explosive composition, the experimental and estimated VODs at 1.66g/cm3 bulk charge density, are 8211 and 8224 m/s respectively. For CL-20/PU (95/5) composition, at a charge density of 1.82 g/cm3 , the calculated VOD was 8775 m/s against the experimental value of 8943 m/s. The applicability of Kamlet’s method for the prediction of the VOD for 95/5 Explosive/PU compositions was also established. These fndings contradict an earlier hypothesis concerning the weight average estimation of Kamlet’s parameter ϕ and establish closer estimates of the VOD using the weight average assessment of the parameters ‘N’, ‘M’ and ‘Q’.