Formulation and Characterization of a PBX Based on Polyurethane Binders

Over the last 40 years terrible accidents involving stored munitions with violent response to unplanned stimuli, e.g. fire, bullet impact and adjacent detonation have become numerous [1]. In an effort to reduce the severity of such accidents, the US Navy directed that all on-board munitions must beinsensitive to hazardous stimuli. Such stores are known as insensitive munitions (IM). IM have become a key focus in the development of explosives. The safety issues associatedwith the storage, handling and transportation of these weapons has led to the introduction of plastic bonded explosives(PBXs), in which the explosive components are bound together by a polymeric binder, forming a semi-rubbery composition which is less susceptible to shock and otherstimuli [2]. The most widely-used binder systems in the propellant and explosive industries are polyurethane bindersbased on the hydroxy-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) prepolymer [3]. The formulations based on HTPB have outstanding mechanical properties, hydrolytic stability, aging stability, and desirable viscosity and solids loading.