Comparison of the influence of temperature on the high-strain-rate mechanical responses of PBX 9501 and EDC37

Many high-strain-rate compression measurements (2000 per second) using a specially designed split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) for the plastic-bonded explosive PBX9501 have been reported in the literature, but there is a sparsity of data for a United Kingdom polymer-bonded explosives (PBX) known as EDC37. Both EDC37 and PBX9501 are cyclotetramethylenetetranitramine-based (HMX-based) PBXs with high filler contents. The binder systems for the PBXs are very different: EDC37 consists of a nitroplasticized nitrocellulose and PBX9501 a nitroplasticized ESTANE. PBX9501 exhibits nearly invariant fracture strains of ∼1.5 pct as a function of temperature at high strain rates, whereas EDC37 fails at ∼2 to 2.5 pct. The maximum compressive strengths for both PBXs were measured at 150 Mpa at -55 °C, but at +55 °C, the PBX was found to have a maximum strength of ∼55 MPa compared with ∼20 MPa for EDC37. Both PBXs exhibit an increasing loading moduli, E, with increasing strain rate or decreasing temperature.