Products of Aluminium containing explosives detonated in Argon and underwater

The detonation products of high explosives depend on the pressure and the confinement conditions under which the reaction proceeds. This holds true not only for less sensitive explosives such as nitroguanidine (NQ), 3-Nitro-1,2,4triazol-5-one (NTO) but also for metal containing composite explosives with different binders. To better understand the reactions of aluminium (AI) with the detonation products, a series of explosives with different AI content were investigated. The objective was to determine the completeness of the AI reaction as well as the influence of the argon pressure. In a second part of the investigation, explosives with different AI content were detonated under water in a plastic balloon. The gaseous products and the solid residue were analyzed with regard to the formation of carbon soot and unreacted aluminium.