Air explosion characteristics of a novel TiH2/RDX composite explosive

An explosive mixture of cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine (RDX) and titanium hydride (TiH2) is introduced. To investigate the explosion characteristics of the composite explosive, charges with various contents of the TiH2 powder are prepared and tested in air explosion experiments. Results show that the peak overpressure, positive duration, and positive specific impulse increase as the content of TiH2 increases from 10 to 20%, as compared to passivated RDX. The peak overpressure, duration, and specific impulse have the largest increase of 6, 9, and 23%, respectively, as compared to passivated RDX, when the TiH2 content is 20%. The effect of the TiH2 particle size is also considered. The charge containing the TiH2 powder with a mean particle size of 4.6 μm shows higher values of the three parameters than that containing 45-μm TiH2 particles under the condition of the same content of TiH2. However, the relationship between the detonation velocity and TiH2 content is a linear inverse proportion, and the particle size of TiH2 has a minor effect on it. Solid explosion products of the TiH2/RDX composite explosive are analyzed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX). TiO2 is found in explosion products, which is believed to form due to TiH2 oxidation.