Studies on NTO-, FOX-7- and DNAN-based Melt Cast Formulations

In the present paper, 2,4-dinitroanisole (DNAN) has been evaluated as a melt cast explosive in comparison to the widely used 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT). The detonation failure diameter of a bare DNAN charge is greater than 100 mm and about 44 mm with 1.5 mm steel confinement. Comparative studies of two sets of formulations were carried out. The first set comprised formulations containing 60% of NTO, FOX-7, HMX or RDX and 40% of DNAN or TNT. The second set comprised formulations containing 30% of NTO, FOX-7, TATB or RDX and 70% of DNAN or TNT. The studies were mainly concentrated on characterization of the formulations, which included determination of the sensitivity parameters and the velocity of detonation (VOD). The study confirmed that DNAN and DNAN-based formulations are relatively insensitive compared to TNT and the analogous TNT-based formulations respectively. The rate of the detonation reaction of DNAN is enhanced in the presence of the high energy ingredients RDX, HMX, FOX-7 and NTO to varying degrees. The VODs of the FOX-7/TNT and RDX/TNT formulations match closely with the proportions of FOX-7 and RDX under study. The VOD and shock sensitivity of the FOX-7/DNAN formulations decrease rapidly compared to the RDX/DNAN formulations, with increases in the proportion of FOX-7 or RDX. The combinations of NTO with TNT, and NTO with DNAN, are more shock insensitive than TNT or DNAN alone. NTO-based compositions are more insensitive than FOX-7-based compositions.