Determination of detonation velocity and plate dent properties fir DPX-6

Abstract

M72 LAW (Light Antiarmour Weapon) has been redesigned with a new warhead for urban warfare. The new warhead is designed for combat of light buildings and therefore need an explosive filling that is optimized for this purpose. The selected explosive is a pressable composition containing 45 wt.% aluminium. The selected composition DPX-6 is not qualified. A test program in accordance with STANAG 4170 has therefore been effectuated to qualify the composition for use in M72 ASM-RC. One of the properties the qualification programme required characterized is the detonation velocity. To experimentally determine the detonation velocity for DPX-6, pellets with 25.5 mm diameter were pressed to a density of 97.5 %TMD. These pellets were glued together to charges of approximately 400 mm in length, giving a distance between the start and stop sensors of 270 mm. The experimentally determined average detonation velocity for DPX-6 is 7854 m/s, which is approximately 100 m/s lower than calculated by use of Cheetah code. Detonation pressure determined by use of Plate Dent test gave a pressure slightly above 200 kbar, which is in accordance with theoretically calculated pressure by use of the Cheetah code.