Safer, more effective explosives made by LANL scientists
Demolition, mining, and prospecting rely on explosives for successful work. Now there's a better option that's safe, economical, and environmentally friendly. The synthesis of this novel insensitive extrudable explosive with advanced mechanical and performance properties opens a range of possibilities previously unaccessible by using current technologies.
Contact
- Marcus A. Lucero
- Technology Transfer
- (505) 665-6569
Safer, more effective explosives made by LANL scientists
Applications:
- Plastic and extrudable explosive replacement
- Demolition
- Seismic prospecting
- Geographical mapping
- Oil & gas industry
- Quarrying
- Mining
- Construction
- Military and law enforcement
- Flexible shaped charges
- Shock hardening
- Explosive welding
- Sheet explosives
- Detonating cord (cased or bare)
Benefits:
- Compatible with standard explosives
- Safer than current technology (i.e. insensitive to impact and other stimuli)
- Improved mechanical toughness and flexibility
- Highly extrudable
- Adhesively bonds to surfaces
- Economical
- Environmentally friendly
Summary:
Traditional state-of-the-art extrudable explosives are relatively sensitive to friction and impact, which make them hazardous to use. Extrudable, plastic, and “plastic-bonded” explosives consist of particulate solid high explosives embedded in a polymer matrix. As such, they all rely on weak forces, such as surface tension, for adhesion between the explosive particles and binder material. This causes the explosive to have relatively weak mechanical properties, limiting potential applications. Additionally, chemical waste from conventional manufacturing processes is becoming more of a concern for many standard products.
In response to these issues, Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists have developed a novel explosive using a new class of materials in which an energetic binder is chemically attached to a particulate solid explosive using an innovative technique. This type of synthesis produces an explosive with enhanced mechanical properties that make it flexible, tough, and versatile. It is also insensitive to impact, friction, spark, and other stimuli. In addition, when these novel materials are initially mixed they form a viscous fluid that is highly extrudable. The polymerization time of these materials can be controlled over a range of minutes to hours, and is irreversible when complete. Density of the finished product may be manipulated over a significant range. Once polymerized, the material becomes a tough, flexible rubber. Mechanical and explosive properties may be tuned for specific applications. Failure diameter of the explosive is comparable and/or better than current explosives, and it may be initiated using standard detonators. Lastly, this relatively inexpensive explosive synthesis utilizes “green” reagents in aqueous media, yielding non-hazardous environmentally friendly waste.
While polymer systems chemically bonded to particulate solids have been successfully developed for other applications, we believe this is the first economical and environmentally friendly plastic-bonded explosive to employ this approach. The synthesis of this novel insensitive extrudable explosive with advanced mechanical and performance properties opens a range of possibilities previously unaccessible by using current technologies.
Development stage: Working prototype, ready for commercial deployment
Patent status: Patents pending
Licensing status: Available for exclusive or non-exclusive licensing and collaborative agreements
Related Articles
All Stories
Bees replacing dogs as detectors of volatile organic compounds
August, 6 2012 - Researchers at LANL began working with domestic honeybees in 2006 to detect explosive materials and narcotics.
Increased durability and lifetime of fuel cell products
April, 3 2012 - A revolutionary method of building a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) for PEM fuel cells allows LANL to offer significant cost reductions and performance enhancements necessary for mainstream applications.
Digital content tool analyzes "gist" of text-based documents
April, 3 2012 - LANL’s Digital Knowledge Discovery Team has created a suite of digital-content-analysis tools to gather, reduce, annotate, organize, synthesize, and visualize digital content.
Reinvention of laboratory apparatus cuts costs
April, 3 2012 - New apparatus that is designed to be inexpensive, reconfigurable, and adaptable to both surface and solution electrochemical experiments.
Solving the energy overusage problem
April, 3 2012 - Energy use and related thermal management issues are serious business concerns, but with EnergyFit LANL can significantly reduce heat output and maintain consistent electrical cost.
Hazardous odorless gases detected by LANL's IntelliCLAD
April, 3 2012 - This new class of smart coatings are non-odorous but release an odor in the presence of selected gases of concern, reducing contamination and alerting people when danger arises.
Programers advance with Kip Ray Tracer
April, 3 2012 - Kip is a high-performance ray tracing library that provides rapid rendering and compact code while using very little memory so large numbers of shapes can be used simultaneously.
KIVA's modeling code increases engine efficiency and fuel economy
April, 3 2012 - Through an advanced computational modeling code that accurately simulates the in-cylinder processes of engines, LANL scientists have addressed many costly issues.
Deep-space communication improved with electromagnetic radiation antenna
April, 3 2012 - New antenna has potential applications in RADAR, secure communications, ultra-long-range communications, oncology and astrophysics.
Faster than the speed of sight: High-speed camera provides high sensitivity, frame rate
April, 3 2012 - High-speed cameras becomes less effective at high speeds; MOXIE fixes that problem by simultaneously providing both the highest photographic and physical speeds.
Video
Small Reactor for Deep Space Exploration
This is the first demonstration of a space nuclear reactor system to produce electricity in the United States since 1965, and an experiment demonstrate...
