Applicability limits of the DAX test in plastic bonded explosives

The Disc Acceleration eXperiment (DAX) is one of the most recent experimental methods of performance characterization of new energetic materials. A cylindrical explosive charge accelerates a thin metallic disc and its velocity is measured continuously using photonic Doppler velocimetry. The detonation velocity is measured simultaneously. The DAX test can be used to obtain the Chapman-Jouguet (CJ) detonation pressure and to describe detonation products expansion using reduced amount of explosive. A series of DAX tests was performed at various charge diameters and disc thicknesses with Semtex 1 A plastic bonded explosive and sensitized nitromethane. The DAX-like evaluation was also applied to previously measured data of Semtex 1A and A-IX-1 explosives. The optimum disc thickness is determined by the disc to explosive mass ratio of 0.01–0.08. The repeatability of the Semtex 1 A detonation pressure results is about four times lower compared to the pressed and liquid explosives.