The effect of sample confinement in detonation calorimetry

Abstract. Heat of detonation is a key parameter of high explosives. However, its experimental determination by detonation calorimetry is more complicated than the other bomb calorimetric measurements. Measured values of the detonation heat can be significantly influenced by experimental arrangement, especially the presence of confinement. Unconfined samples of oxygen-deficient explosives typically provide invalid results that are influenced by high-temperature reequilibration of detonation products, which is specific to conditions present only in the calorimeters and absent in most real-world applications of explosives. This paper compares available types of confinement applied to a common plastic bonded explosive and compares the results with thermochemical code predictions. Correct measurement procedures are deduced and summarized.