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Fracture Surface Topography of Octol Explosives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

M. Yvonne D. Lanzerotfi,
James J. Pinto and
Allan Wolfe
M. Yvonne D. Lanzerotfi
Affiliation:
U. S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, Picatinny Arsenal, NJ 07806-5000
James J. Pinto
Affiliation:
U. S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, Picatinny Arsenal, NJ 07806-5000
Allan Wolfe
Affiliation:
New York City Technical College, Brooklyn, NY 11201-0000
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Abstract

Energetic materials are of significant interest for scientific and practical reasons in the extraction (mining) industry, space propulsion, and ordnance. The nature of the fracture process of such materials under high acceleration is of particular interest, especially in ordnance. This paper describes new experimental and analysis techniques that allow us to characterize quantitatively and to compare the fracture surfaces of different energetic materials, and to deduce the specific fracture mechanisms. The techniques are widely applicable to other composite systems. In the materials discussed herein, topographical profiles spaced 1.0 mm apart across the fracture surfaces of two types of Octol have been obtained with a diamond stylus profilometer. Spatial power spectra (wavelengths of 1.0 μm 1.0 cm) have been calculated using a prolate spheroidal data window in the horizontal space domain prior to using a fast Fourier transform algorithm. The spatial power density of the fracture surface profiles is found in general to decrease with increasing spatial frequency over the region of interest, ≈ 1 mm-1 to ≈ 1 cm-1. Quasi-periodic peaks corresponding to HMX particle sizes are observed in the Octol spatial power spectra. These peaks indicate the inhomogeneous HMX grain size distribution in the Octol fracture surfaces. Peaks in the Octol spectra indicate that intergranular fracture often occurs between the TNT and HMX grains. Fractal analysis of the Octol power spectral slopes indicates the regions of deterministic, intergranular failure and the regions of the nondeterministic, trans-granular failure through TNT or HMX grains. This non-deterministic (fractal) failure is chaotic and may indicate the origin of failure in the sample.

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