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ISBN: 978-3-527-32610-5
This book is dedicated to my revered spiritual teacher
His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Founder, Art of Living and
The International Association for Human Values
Foreword
There are several books dealing with explosives, propellants and pyrotechnics, but much of the latest information on High Energy Materials (HEMs) of recent origin is scattered in the literature as research/review papers. This book is the first of its kind in which the knowledge on materials hitherto accumulated over the past 50 years in the literature has been carefully blended with latest developments in advanced materials, and articulated to highlight their potential from the point of view of end-use.
This book contains six chapters. While chapter one of this book introduces the subject in terms of salient/fundamental features of explosives, additional requirements for military explosives and their applications (military, commercial, space, nuclear & others), chapter 2 highlights the status of current and futuristic explosives in the light of their special characteristics. In addition, the future scope of research in this field has also been brought into focus in this chapter.
Chapter 3 essentially covers the important aspects of processing & assessment of explosives & their formulations. The propellants which are extensively used for various military & space applications are described in chapter 4. The major portion of this chapter is devoted to different aspects of high performance & eco-friendly oxidizers (ADN & HNF), novel binders such as butacene, ISRO Polyol and other state-of-the-art energetic binders [GAP, NHTPB; poly (NiMMO), poly (GlyN), etc.], energetic plasticizers (BDNPA/F, Bu-NENA, K-10, etc.) along with other ingredients which are likely to play a crucial role in augmenting the performance of futuristic propellants for various missions. The inhibition of rocket propellants & insulation of rocket motors along with their recent developments are also included in this chapter. Pyrotechnics which form an integral part of explosive and propellant related missions are discussed in chapter 5 whereas Explosive & Chemical safety which is of vital importance to all those working in the area of High Energy Materials (HEMs) is dealt in chapter 6.
Dr. J. P. Agrawal, who is an internationally acknowledged explosive & polymer scientist of repute, is a great writer with a large number of research publications to his credit. His rich experience and the international knowledge in High Energy Materials written in the book are valuable assets for the new generation of High Energy Materials scientists and rocket technologists.
This book is the most comprehensive review of modern High Energy Materials and encompasses their important aspects with special reference to their end-use/applications. The language in the text is very lucid and easy to understand. The readers and researchers will be immensely benefitted by the book.
Dr. A. Sivathanu Pillai Distinguished Scientist CEO & MD Brahmos Aerospace Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, India
Preface
A new term ‘high energy materials’ (HEMs) was coined by the explosives community for the class of materials known as explosives, propellants and pyrotechnics in order to camouflage research on such materials. In other words, HEMs is a generic term used for this class of materials. HEMs, although generally perceived as the ‘devil’ during war and considered as an ‘evil’ during handling, transportation and storage, have proved to be an ‘angel’ due to their tremendous impact on the economy and industries and their innumerable applications in almost all walks of life. There are several books devoted to explosives, propellants and pyrotechnics but most of these either discuss their science in general or concentrate on some specific topic. Also, none of these books deals with recent developments in detail. While a number of excellent reviews have been published to bridge this knowledge gap, there is still no single text available in the literature on the subject, embedded with recent advances and future trends in the field of HEMs. This book, entitled ‘High Energy Materials: Propellants, Explosives and Pyrotechnics’ is a text which covers the entire spectrum of HEMs, including their current status, in a single volume and its objective is to fill this gap in the literature.
The modus operandi of this book is: (i) to provide the current status of HEMs which have been reported in the form of research/review papers during the last 50 years but are scattered in the literature; (ii) to explore the potential of recently reported HEMs for various applications in the light of additional requirements in the present scenario, that is, cost-effectiveness, recyclability and eco-friendliness; (iii) to identify the likely thrust areas for further research in this area. Thus, the information on HEMs reported during the last 50 years but scattered all over the literature, will be readily available to researchers in a single book. Further, the level at which chemistry is pitched in this book is not as high as in many specialized books focused on a particular aspect of HEMs. Readers interested in better understanding and details of nitration chemistry are referred to the book ‘Organic Chemistry of Explosives’ (J.P. Agrawal and R.D. Hodgson) which provides detailed information on various synthetic routes for a wide range of HEMs and the chemistry involved. By including Chapter 1 on ‘Salient Features of Explosives’ and Chapter 6 on ‘Explosive and Chemical Safety’ along with chapters on Explosives, Propellants and Pyrotechnics, this book will certainly be of interest to both professionals and those with little or no background knowledge of the subject.
This book is split into six well-defined chapters: Salient Features of Explosives, Status of Explosives, Processing and Assessment of Explosives, Propellants, Pyrotechnics, and Explosive and Chemical Safety. Further, the book includes an exhaustive bibliography at the end of each chapter (total references cited are more than 1000). It also provides the status of HEMs reported mainly during the last 50 years, including their prospects for military applications in the light of their physical, chemical, thermal and explosive properties. The likely development areas for further research are also highlighted. Accidents, fires and explosions in the explosive and chemical industries may be eliminated or minimized if the safety measures described in this book are implemented.
I hope that this book will be of interest to everyone involved with HEMs irrespective of their background: R&D laboratories, universities and institutes, production agencies, quality assurance agencies, homeland security, forensic laboratories, chemical industries and armed forces (army, navy and air force). This book will also be of immense use to organizations dealing with the production of commercial explosives and allied chemicals.
To sum up, I have endeavored to bring about a refreshing novelty in my approach to the subject while writing this volume and tried my best to include all relevant information on HEMs which could be of interest to military as well as commercial applications. However, it is just possible that a few interesting HEMs or some relevant information might have been overlooked unwittingly, for which I apologize. Readers are requested to inform me or the publisher about such omissions which would be greatly appreciated and included in the next edition of this book.
Dr. Jai Prakash Agrawal
Pune, India
Acknowledgments
During the course of writing this book, I have found the books and reports or reviews given under ‘Further Reading’ very interesting and invaluable. The writing of this book would have been difficult if it had not been for the text of these books and reports or reviews by pioneers of HEMs. I wish to express my sincere thanks to the authors and publishers of the books, reports and reviews listed under the heading ‘Further Reading’ at the end of this section.
The Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India sponsored a project to me under Utilization of Scientific Expertise of Retired Scientists Scheme to write this book, for which I am grateful to them. I would like to thank Dr. A. Subhananda Rao, Director, HEMRL for providing the office and library facilities. I acknowledge with thanks the help and support provided by all officers and staff of the Technical Information Resource Center, HEMRL during the entire period of this project. I also thank Dr. A.L. Moorthy, Director, Defence Scientific Information and Documentation Centre (DESIDOC), Delhi and his colleagues for providing library support.
I am grateful to Mr. K. Venkatesan, Ex-Joint Director, HEMRL and my personal friend for over three decades for his meticulous perusal of the manuscript and valuable contributions to improving its quality. The HEMRL scientists and my former colleagues have helped me in the preparation of this book by providing scientific information for which I am thankful to them: Dr. Mehilal, Dr. R.S. Satpute, Dr. A.K. Sikder, Mr. G.M. Gore, Dr. D.B. Sarwade, Dr. K.S. Kulkarni, Ms. Florence Manuel, Ms. Jaya Nair, Mr. R.S. Palaiah, Dr. G.K. Gautam, Mr. H.P. Sonawane and Ms. S.H. Sonawane, Mr. B.R. Thakur, Mr. J.R. Peshwe, Dr. B.M. Bohra, Mr. S.G. Sundaram, Mr. P.V. Kamat, Dr. R.G.Sarawadekar, Mr. U.S. Pandit, Mr. S.R. Vadali, Mr. C.K. Ghatak, Mr. N.L. Varyani and Dr. A.R. Kulkarni. My thanks are also due to Ms. S.S. Dahitule for typing, Mr. Bhalerao for the artwork and Mr. K.K. Chakravarty, Ms. Ratna Pilankar, Ms. Rashmi Thakur and Mr. P.M. Mhaske for providing miscellaneous support.
Mr. J.C. Kapoor, Director and Dr. S.C. Agarwal, Joint Director, CFEES, Delhi were kind enough to provide literature on safety for which I am thankful to them. Dr. Ross W. Millar, QinetiQ Ltd., Ministry of Defence, UK and Dr. Niklas Wingborg, Swedish Defence Research Agency deserve my special thanks and appreciation for providing a lot of information on energetic binders and oxidizers respectively, followed by technical discussions. The support in terms of providing literature on SFIO by Dr. B.M. Kosowski, MACH I, USA and Butacene 800 by Dr. B. Finck, SNPE, France is also acknowledged with thanks. I thank Mr. M.C. Uttam, Ex.-Dy. Director, VSSC for providing some details about space applications of explosives. I would also like to thank Professor J.E. Field, Dr. S.M. Walley, University of Cambridge, UK, Dr. R.D. Hodgson, Health and Safety Laboratory, UK, Mr. M. Anbunathan, Ex-Chief Controller of Explosives, Nagpur, Dr. S.M. Mannan, Controller of Explosives and Dr. R.P. Singh, Scientist, NCL for providing valuable information and support from time to time.
The author is also grateful to the following copyright owners for their kind permission to reproduce tables and figures from their publications: The Royal Society of Chemistry, J. Pyrotechnics Inc., IPSUSA Seminars Inc., Pergamon Press (now part of Elsevier Ltd.), Springer Science and Business Media, American Defense Preparedness Association, Fraunhofer ICT, Wiley-VCH and United Nations.
A project of this magnitude would not have been accomplished without the unconditional support, encouragement and love of my wife Sushma. This book would not have seen the light of the day in the absence of her untiring help for which I wish to express my profound appreciation. Also, I would like to thank my daughter Sumita, son-in-law Vipul and son Puneet for their understanding and patience throughout the course of writing this book.
Finally my thanks are due to Dr. Martin Preuss, Commissioning Editor (Materials Science), Dr. Martin Graf and their colleagues at Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, Germany for their support and valuable suggestions from time to time.
Dr. Jai Prakash Agrawal
Pune, India
Further Reading
1 Fordham, S. (1966) High Explosives and Propellants, Pergamon Press, Oxford, UK.
2 Suceska, M. (1995) Test Methodsfor Explosives, Springer-Verlag, New York, USA.
3 Kohler, J., and Meyer, R. (1993) Explosives, Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH, Weinheim, Germany.
4 Sutton, G.P. (1992) Rocket Propulsion Elements: An Introduction to the Engineering of Rockets, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, USA.
5 Bailey, A., and Murray, S.G. (1989) Explosives, Propellants and Pyrotechnics, Land Warfare: Brassey’s New Battlefield Weapons Systems and Technology Series, (eds F. Hartley and R.G. Lee), vol. 2, Brassey’s (UK) Ltd, London, UK.
6 Agrawal, J.P., and Hodgson, R.D. (2007) Organic Chemistry of Explosives, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, UK.
7 Akhavan, J. (2004) The Chemistry of Explosives, The Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, UK.
8 Conkling, J.A. (1985) Chemistry of Pyrotechnics: Basic Principles and Theory, Marcel Dekkar, Inc, New York, USA.
9 Provatas, A. (2000) Energetic polymers and plasticizers for explosive formulations: a review of recent advances. AAMRL Report No. DSTO-TR-0966.
10 Agrawal, J.P. (1998) Recent trends in high energy materials. Prog. Energy Combust. Sci., 24, 1–30.
11 Agrawal, J.P. (2005) Some new high energy materials and their formulations for specialized applications. Prop., Explos., Pyrotech., 30, 316–328.
Abbreviations
AA
Adipic acid
AAT
Ammonium azotetrazolate
ADN
Ammonium dinitramide
ADNBF
7-Amino-4,6-dinitrobenzofuroxan
ADPA
American Defense Preparedness Association (now part of National Defense Industrial Association)
AFX
Air force explosive
AIAA
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
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