University of California

Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC

James A Viecelli

Muriel Y Ishikawa

Lowell L Wood

Phillip F Pagoria

John H Nuckolls

Hollow RX-08HD cylindrical charges were loaded with boron and PTFE, in the form of low-bulk density powders or powders dispersed in a rigid foam matrix. Each charge was initiated by a Comp B booster at one end, producing a detonation wave propagating down the length of the cylinder, crushing the foam or bulk powder and collapsing the void spaces. The PdV work done in crushing the material heated it to high temperatures, expelling it in a high velocity fluid jet. In the case of boron particles supported in foam, framing camera photos, temperature measurements, and aluminum witness plates suggest that the boron was completely vaporized by the crush wave and that the boron vapor turbulently mixed with and burned in the surrounding air. In the case of PTFE powder, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of residues recovered from fragments of a granite target slab suggest that heating was sufficient to dissociate the PTFE to carbon vapor and molecular fluorine which reacted with the quartz and aluminum silicates in the granite to form aluminum oxide and mineral fluoride compounds.

Explosively driven low-density foams and powders

Disclosed herein are light metal explosives, pyrotechnics and propellants (LME&Ps) comprising a light metal component such as Li, B, Be or their hydrides or intermetallic compounds and alloys containing them and an oxidizer component containing a classic explosive, such as CL-20, or a non-explosive oxidizer, such as lithium perchlorate, or combinations thereof. LME&P formulations may have light metal particles and oxidizer particles ranging in size from 0.01 &#x3bc;m to 1000 &#x3bc;m.

Growing community of inventors

Orinda, CA, United States of America

James A Viecelli