The Effect of Additives on the Detonation Characteristics of a Liquid Explosive

In this paper we report new experimental results on the detonation characteristics of nitromethane containing high volume percentages of essentially inert additives. In particular, we have studied the detonation of packed beds of small spherical glass and aluminium particles saturated with pure nitromethane. These mixes are found to have reduced detonation velocities and critical diameters compared to the liquid explosive alone. We conclude with a general discussion of the propagation mechanism in such materials.