Preparation and Performance of a Novel Water Gel Explosive Containing Expired Propellant Grains

Novel water gel explosives containing expired single base and double base propellant grains were prepared by using a new gelling agent and a simple process. The shock wave overpressures and underwater output energies of the explosives were measured. The detonation performances of the explosives were also investigated. As the particle size of the propellant was increased, the detonation velocity, peak overpressure and underwater energy of the explosive containing single base propellant (NCP) were gradually reduced. Double base propellant (DBP) had low detonation sensitivity due to its thermoplasticity. When it was mixed with the appropriate quantity of NCP, DBP could also be reused. NCP acted as the sensitizer and energy source in the explosive containing both DBP and NCP. So the detonation velocity, peak overpressure and underwater energy of the explosive increased with the increase in ωNCP. With excellent detonation performance, these two kinds of water gel explosives can be used as opencast blasting agents.