Explosive and thermic compositions or charges – Structure or arrangement of component or product – Solid particles dispersed in solid solution or matrix
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-26
2001-03-27
Miller, Edward A. (Department: 3641)
Explosive and thermic compositions or charges
Structure or arrangement of component or product
Solid particles dispersed in solid solution or matrix
C149S019100, C149S019400, C149S019700, C149S019800, C149S019900, C149S092000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06206988
ABSTRACT:
This application is the national phase under 35 U.S.C. §371 of PCT International Application No. PCT/JP98/01634 which has an International filing date of Apr. 9, 1998 which designated the United States of America.
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to compositions which contain hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane as a major component and explosive compositions which contain the hexanitrohexaazisowurtzitane-containing compositions. The compositions of the present invention are excellent in not only performance in terms of ignitability, combustibility, detonability and the like, but also insensitivity to provide improved handling safety.
BACKGROUND ART
Explosive materials are classified into explosives used for blasting and the like, and combustion compositions which give off gas and heat while burning without an outside supply of air or oxygen. Generally, examples of the explosives include nitroglycerin-containing dynamite, ANFO prepared by mixing ammonium nitrate with fuel oils, PBX (Plastic Bonded Explosives) prepared by binding hexogen (RDX) or octogen (HMX) with polymeric binders, and bursting explosives containing trinitrotoluene, RDX or HMX as a major component. These compositions may easily be exploded by means of detonators or fuses. On the other hand, examples of combustion compositions include difficult-to-detonate gun and rocket propellants, which are prepared by mixing solid oxidizers such as ammonium perchlorate, ammonium nitrate, HMX, RDX and the like with polymeric binders, nitrocellulose, or the like. Research has been performed up to the present with the goal of improving the performance of these propellants by seeking for and developing materials having a high energy density per unit of weight or volume. One means of achieving this is by using high energy density materials such as hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane, hexanitrohexaazaadamantane, octanitrocubene, or the like. An example is given in pages 228 and 229 of a paper distributed at the Energetic Materials Summer Conference of Jul. 25, 1989 that CL-20 described in the “Critical Technology Plan” edited by the USDOD (United States Department of Defense), which is noted in the February 1992 issue of “Boei Gijutsu (Defense Technology Journal)”, is hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane. According to the paper, hexa-nitrohexaazaisowurtzitane has a density of 1.98, a detonation pressure of 432 Kbar and an energy density of 455 cal/cm
3
. From this it follows that hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane has a density higher by ca. 4%, a detonation pressure higher by ca. 10% and an energy density ca. 4.2 times higher than those of HMX (density: 1.90, detonation pressure: 391 Kbar, energy density: 109 cal/cm
3
), which has been superior in performance to any other conventional explosive materials.
The sensitivity of hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane is amost equal to that of HMX in the condition in which it is usually produced, but higher than that of HMX in a certain crystalline form, so that precaution is required for its handling. Attempts have been made to lower the sensitivity by use of inert plasticizers, but there still remain problems such as separation of hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane from the inert plasticizer due to mutual incompatibility and deterioration of performance in terms of ignitability, combustibility, detonability and the like because of inertness of the plasticizers.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide explosive compositions which are improved in handling safety without degrading performance in terms of ignitability, combustibility, detonability and the like by selection of plasticizers that have good compatibility with hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane while lowering the sensitivity.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
As a result of making intensive research to solve the above-mentioned problems, the inventor has completed the present invention, based upon the findings that the hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane compositions which have a safer level of handling sensitivity may be obtained without lowering performance in terms of ignitability, combustibility, detonability and the like by mixing hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane with polynitropolyacetylhexaazaisowurtzitanes and oxaisowurtzitane compounds (hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane derived oxa compounds) which are excellent in compatibility with hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane, because of resemblance between them in skeleton structure. The oxaisowurtzitane compounds are represented by the following formulae (1) through (5):
Accordingly, the present invention provides the hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane-containing compositions which are prepared by mixing hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane with polynitropolyacetylhexaazaisowurtzitanes and one or more of oxaisowurtzitane compounds represented by the formulae (1) through (5). The content of the polynitropolyacetylhexaazaisowurtzitane ranges from 0.1 to 5 percent by weight and the content of the oxaisowurtzitane compound ranges from 0.01 to 0.5 percent by weight. The polynitropolyacetylhexaazaisowurtzitanes include dinitrotetraacetylhexaazaisowurtzitane, trinitrotriacetylhexaazaisowurtzitane, tetranitrodiacetylhexaazaisowurtane and pentanitromonoacetylhexaazaisowurtzitane, which may be used either independently or in a combination of two or more for preparation of said hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane-containing compositions.
Furthermore, the present invention provides an explosive composition prepared by mixing a conventional explosive, or the explosive components of such a conventional explosive, with the above-mentioned hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane-containing compositions. In order to prevent the performance of the composition from degrading, for example, to reduce the range of a decrease in the detonation velocity of the composition by several percent or less, the content of the polynitropolyacetylhexaazaisowurtzitane should range preferably from 0.1 to 5 percent by weight and the content of the oxaisowurtzitane compound should range preferably from 0.01 to 1.0 percent by weight. If the content of the polynitropolyacetylhexaazaisowurtzitane is more than 5 percent by weight or if the content of the oxaisowurtzitane compound is more than 1.0 percent by weight, the performance of the explosive composition is undesirably lowered.
If the content of the polynitropolyacetylhexaazaisowurtzitane is less than 0.1 percent by weight, the handling sensitivity of the composition is undesirably increased. If the content of the oxaisowurtzitane compound is less than 0.01, the handling sensitivity is also increased. More preferably, the content of the polynitropolyacetylhexaazaisowurtzitane ranges 0.2 to 2 percent by weight, and the content of the oxaisowurtzitane compound ranges from 0.01 to 0.2 percent by weight.
Polynitropolyacetylhexaazaisowurtzitanes include dinitrotetraacetylhexaazaisowurtzitane, trinitrotriacetylhexaazaisowurtzitane, tetranitrodiacetylhexaazaisowurtzitane and pentanitromonoacetylhexaazaisowurtzitane, which may be preferably used either independently or in a combination of two or more.
It is possible to improve the performance of conventional explosives by full or partially substituting the explosives with the hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane compositions which contain the polynitropolyacetylhexaazaisowurtzitanes and the oxaisowurtzitane compounds.
Typical examples of the conventional explosives which have been used include trinitrotoluene (TNT), trinitroazetidine (TNAZ), burster compositions obtained by melt mixing RDX or HMX with said explosives and so-called PBX prepared by binding RDX or HMX with polymeric binders. Typical examples of the conventional explosives, which are used as gun or rocket propellants, include solid compositions obtained by binding solid oxidizers such as ammonium perchlorate, ammonium nitrate, HMX, RDX and the like with polymeric binders and compositions prepared by mixing high-energy solid materials such as HMX, RMX, nitroguanidine and the like with a mixture of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin.
Full or partial replacement of these solid oxidizers or high-energy solid materials wit
Asahi Kasei Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Birch Stewart Kolasch & Birch, LLP.
Miller Edward A.
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