Applications of Liquid Explosives

The development and application of liquid explosives are limited because of stability and energy issues. In order to solve the problems, recently, a great deal of effort has been made to develop considerable alkyl azide compounds and azide... 

Overall, the developed countries lead the development and application of liquid explosives [7, 17]. Asian countries involve in the area positively. 

Applications of Liquid Explosives 1.4.1 Mining and Industrial Applications... 

Xue X (1984) The application of liquid explosives. Explosion Shock Waves 4(3) 81-84... 

Combustion reaction of explosives is deflagration, which is another classic form. Deflagration is different from general combustion. Explosives have oxidants and combustible materials. Combustion of explosives does not need the oxygen in air, and it spreads smoothly. For propellants and pyrotechnics, combustion is the basic form of explosion. Some primary explosives work through combustion or combustion-detonation. Here in all, study of the general rules of liquid explosives and the basic conditions of combustion-to-detonation are of great importance for the safety productions and applications of liquid explosives. 

From detonation physics, the charging and application of liquid explosives are not as wide as condensed explosives because liquid explosives are not compressible. Liquid explosives have an elusive outstanding feature, which is that the reactions of detonation absorb energy first, later release heat. The combination of exothermicity and endothermicity complicates the chemical reactions, and results in the parameter distribution characteristics of macrokinetics different from detonation characteristics of general high-energy explosives. 

The application of liquid explosives refers the explosion in rocks and earth. The stratum (including rocks and soil) is a kind of nonuniform media. There are large gaps between rocks and rocks, rocks and the soil, soil and soil. Even in the same rocks, there are big differences in the textures, structures, or mechanical properties. Study of explosion in the rocks is more complex compared to that in the air or under water. To study the impact of liquid explosives in the mining, explosions in infinite rocks and infinite half rocks are discussed here. 

Lv C, Hui J, Hu G (1986) Future prospect and application of liquid explosives. Explos Mater 3 9-12... 

Critical Constants of Liquid Explosives, These are temp, pressure, vol density. Such critical constants of liq expls cannot be measured directly because of the intractable nature of the substances. Equations have been developed by Lewis (Ref) whereby the critical temps critical densities may be detd with a high degree of accuracy from measurements made in an accessible range of densities surface tensions of some liq expls. It is shown by Lewis in applying these equations to TNT, NG mercury that they are of general applicability to a wide range of chemical substances... 

Since it was first synthesized in 1847 [2], nitroglycerin as a main component in liquid explosives, has been tremendously investigated and widely used in mining and other industrial blasting, as well as in military, such as propellant powers. Later, a series of liquid explosives of nitrate ester, such as dinitrate esters, with better explosive property and safety were developed [3-5]. In recent years, the United States has launched studies of high power and low characteristic signal propellants to continuously expand the application range of liquid nitrate esters [6]. 

In the past two decades, it the study of high energy density materials over the world has attracted considerable attention and a series of liquid explosives of azide ammonium nitrate and azide nitrate have been developed [9, 17, 18]. In recent years, liquid explosives of azide alkanes and nitrate esters have been also developed to break the limit of application conditions and make product serialization [19]. 

The cutting effect for a linear shaped charge cutter depends on the liner width, the liner apex angle, the liner thickness, the charge height, and the burst height. Table 1.3 lists the optimum size and application conditions of the linear shaped charge cutter of liquid explosives based on a rich supply of experimental data. 

To study the detonation of liquid explosives and its spreading/transportation, nitromethane, nitroglycerine, diethyleneglycol dinitrate, and methyl nitrite are designed as the objectives of liquid explosives to study the chemical dynamics and the complex unsteady process of shock waves combustion. These phenomena determine the structure of detonation wave fronts and spreading limit of detonation waves. They help to clear the flow dynamics of wave fronts, and refer suggestions for the formula of liquid explosives, study and application of equipment features. They help to improve and perfect the detonation theory. 

Above, the special detonation of liquid explosives is discussed. In the detonation wave range of under-pressure detonation, there is constant flow area— the flat-form of pressure. After the feature is proved, there will be potential applications in explosion industry. 

Although the pathological detonation stated by Von Neumann is very interesting in theory, its application value in condensed explosives is not clear yet. The time of detonation reaction and positive pressure action of liquid explosives is far longer than that of the condensed explosives. This explained why the detonation theory of condensed explosives is not supported by the detonation theory of liquid explosives [14-16]. 

This book will discuss the detonation of liquid explosives—the first exothermic reaction, and the second exothermic reaction and endothermic detonation, which is one example of eigenvalue detonation. This case has application value because most of solid explosives are composed by one kind of explosives and a mixture, which deactivates adhesives. In the detonation, the deactivation of adhesives is endothermic. The eigenvalue detonation of this kind of explosives is achievable. Figure 2.15 explains the key features of the eigenvalue detonation. 

From the theoretical expression of explosion work and extensive research, increasing the explosion heat helps to improve the working ability/capacity of an explosive. The study and application results of liquid explosives indicate that the gas products of liquid explosives are much more than condensed explosives, and when the specific volume is fixed, the work capacity of liquid explosives increases following the explosion heat. When the explosion heat increases up 100 J/gm, the wok capacity raises up 5-7 %. The generalized empirical formula is below... 

In the security sector, a particular topical application is the detection of liquid explosives concealed in bottles without opening them for scanning of passenger... 

This chapter concludes our discussion of applications of surface chemistry with the possible exception of some of the materials on heterogeneous catalysis in Chapter XVIII. The subjects touched on here are a continuation of Chapter IV on surface films on liquid substrates. There has been an explosion of research in this subject area, and, again, we are limited to providing just an overview of the more fundamental topics. 

Application of a welding torch or burner to a tank or drum containing flammable material, either as solid, liquid or vapour or their residues, can cause an explosion. Such vessels, although apparently empty , may have residue in the bottom and/or in seams and crevices. 

The calculation method can be selected by application of the decision tree in Figure 9.2. The liquid temperature is believed to be about 339 K, which is the temperature equivalent to the relief valve set pressure. The superheat limit temperatures of propane and butane, the constituents of LPG, can be found in Table 6.1. For propane, T, = 326 K, and for butane, T i = 377 K. The figure specifies that, if the liquid is above its critical superheat limit temperature, the explosively flashing liquid method must be chosen. However, because the temperature of the LPG is below the superheat limit temperature (T i) for butane and above it for propane, it is uncertain whether the liquid will flash. Therefore, the calculation will first be performed with the inclusion of vapor energy only, then with the combined energy of vapor and liquid. 

The early history of ionic liquid research was dominated by their application as electrochemical solvents. One of the first recognized uses of ionic liquids was as a solvent system for the room-temperature electrodeposition of aluminium [1]. In addition, much of the initial development of ionic liquids was focused on their use as electrolytes for battery and capacitor applications. Electrochemical studies in the ionic liquids have until recently been dominated by work in the room-temperature haloaluminate molten salts. This work has been extensively reviewed [2-9]. Development of non-haloaluminate ionic liquids over the past ten years has resulted in an explosion of research in these systems. However, recent reviews have provided only a cursory look at the application of these new ionic liquids as electrochemical solvents [10, 11]. 

Catalytic oxidation reactions in ionic liquids have been investigated only very recently. This is somewhat surprising in view of the well loiown oxidation stability of ionic liquids, from electrochemical studies [11], and the great commercial importance of oxidation reactions. Moreover, for oxidation reactions with oxygen, the nonvolatile nature of the ionic liquid is of real advantage for the safety of the reaction. While the application of volatile organic solvents may be restricted by the formation of explosive mixtures in the gas phase, this problem does not arise if a nonvolatile ionic liquid is used as the solvent. 

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