Cook Off of Comp-B

SAND2012-10205C
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Cookoff of a Melt-castable Explosive

M. L. Hobbs, M. J. Kaneshige, M. U. Anderson
Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin
Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000. SAND NO. 2011-XXXXP
Introduction
 Composition B (Comp-B) explosives consist of mixtures of RDX
and TNT, and a desensitizing wax. In the current work, Comp-
B is assumed to be composed of 60/40 RDX/TNT by weight.
 Developed prior to WWI and used in mortar shells, torpedoes,
demolition charges, warheads, shaped charges, and bombs.
 Prepared by melting TNT in a steam-jacketed kettle, adding
wet RDX slowly, heating and stirring until the water is
evaporated. Comp-B is cast into desired shape and cooled.
 Comp-B is easy to process, has a high detonation pressure,
but fails many insensitive munitions (IM) requirements.
 Comp-B does not pass slow and fast cookoff IM tests.
Consequently, the response of Comp-B during an accident,
such as a fire, is important for safety analysis.
2
Thermal Analysis by Others*
 TNT in Comp-B melts at
same temperature as in
pure TNT.
 RDX melt is absent in the
Comp-B DTA data.
 Early onset of Comp-B may
be caused by hot Comp-B
liquid dissolving the RDX
suspension.
 Some discrepancy in data
(e.g. DTA shows exotherm
after TGA indicates no
*LLNL Explosives Handbook , LLNL report DE85-015961 (1981).
reaction)
3
Simultaneous TGA/DSC Data
TGA data DSC data
TNT dissolves
RDX suspension?
*RDX and TNT are from the same lot used to make the 60/40 mixtures.
4
TNT Melt & RDX Dissolution
Baseline corrected DSC Effective capacitance model
Latent enthalpy taken directly from DSC data. TNT latent enthalpy
matches literature. Energy of RDX dissolution is less than RDX melt.
5
Sandia’s Instrumented Thermal Ignition (SITI)
Open half shell
4m
8m
12 m
16 m
36 m
22 s
6
Oven Test (a.k.a. snowman)
45 minutes 135 minutes 270 minutes Post test oven
7
Model Features
 One-step, first-order mechanism
 Distributed Arrhenius rates modified by (P/Po)n
 Product hierarchy from equilibrium calculations
 Liquefaction modeled thermodynamically
 Liquid rates are 15 times larger than solid rates
 Thermal expansion, TNT phase change, RDX dissolution
 One energy equation, one momentum equation, three
continuity equations (Comp-B, Gas, Carbon), various
auxiliary equations for gas volume fraction, pressure, etc.
Comp-B (C4.58H5.61N4.82O6) 2.24 H2O + 2.41 N2 + 1.88 CO2 + 0.064 H2+ 2.54 C
   exp    E   E  / RT  [compb]
np
rA P rgas  dtd [gas]  6.845r rcarbon  dtd [carbon]  2.450r
Po
8
Model Features (continued)
 Single energy equation with convection and reaction source.
T
Cp   C p v  T    (k T )  qr
t
 Single momentum equation with Bousinesq volume force.
dv
   v  v  P   2 v      o  gh
dt
 All wetted surfaces assumed to have a no-slip boundary.
vwetted surfaces  0
 Local gas/solid velocities/temperatures equal.

TC  Tg  T ( x, y , z, t ) and vC  v g  v ( x, y , z, t )
 Low Mach flow (velocities much less than sound speeds).

P ( x, y , z, t )  P (t )
z  1  X exp(0.298 X )
 BKWS-EOS used for pressure Pg ( x, y , z, t )  Pg (t ) 
znRT
Vg  n   0.0105  Covol 
X    
V T  6620 
 g 
9
SITI Test Results
 #71 ignited faster

than predicted.
Possible plug?
 Good temperature
match to 430 K, then
model transition from
solid to liquid is too
fast.
T  412.5K   0.25  106 Pa  s
T  413.5K   0.2 Pa  s
10
Oven Test Results
 Melts from outside to

the inside.
 Solid plug gets smaller
and starts to fall
toward the bottom of
the can.
 Liquid heats up and
eventually self-heats
and ignites at the top
of the can.
11
Oven Test Results
 Temperature pinch
occurs in middle of RDX
dissolution range.
 Model predicts slightly
longer ignition times.
 Discrepancy in ignition
time could be related to
the method of melting
the Comp-B flakes.
 In the experiment, the
flakes were melted in
the combined system.
12
Summary and Conclusions
 Decomposition of Comp-B decomposes differently as a mixture
than the individual components RDX and HMX.
 TNT melts between 77-102°C in Comp-B.
 The RDX suspension in hot TNT dissolves between 147-187°C
 The dissolution of RDX is not as sharp as a phase change and
favors a distributed activation energy model.
 The model captures the time-to-ignition for the SITI experiments.
 The modeled SITI internal temperatures are good until about
157°C and then the temperatures pinch together faster than the
measured temperatures.
 Temperature dependent volumetric expansion data is needed at
elevated temperatures.
 Viscosity data above 157°C is needed.
 More data is needed for both open and closed systems using
melt-cast Comp-B as well as flaked Comp-B. 13

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SAND2012-10205C

Photos placed in horizontal position

Cookoff of a Melt-castable Explosive

45 minutes 135 minutes 270 minutes Post test oven

 Local gas/solid velocities/temperatures equal.

 Low Mach flow (velocities much less than sound speeds).

 #71 ignited faster

 Melts from outside to

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