Thiokol Corporation

Lee C Estabrook

Carlos Somoza

The particle size of a particulate energetic material such as HMX or RDX is reduced by introducing the energetic material as a water-containing slurry at less than 40 percent solids into a high velocity fluid stream in a fluid energy mill and controlling the fluid temperature, fluid velocity, and energetic material feed rate to achieve a particle size of about 10 microns or less.

Wet grinding of crystalline energetic materials

Occluded acidity in particulate explosives is removed by slurrying the particles in an inert liquid and subjecting the slurry to wet-grinding. The inert liquid may include an alkaline salt at or near saturation. Separation of the ground explosive particles from the liquid phase results in a ground explosive material with much reduced acidity.

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Minden, LA, United States of America

Lee C Estabrook