Explosives salient features

Explosives are now widely employed for (i) military applications (ii) commercial applications (iii) space applications (iv) nuclear applications and (v) miscellaneous applications. Military and commercial applications of explosives have been discussed in detail by Dr. Fordham [100] and only salient features are given here. 

At this stage it is considered appropriate to describe some salient features of fissile materials and explosive lenses, before we discuss about the explosives and their formulations for nuclear weapons. 

This book is split into six well-defined chapters Salient Features of Explosives, Status of Explosives, Processing and Assessment of Explosives, Propellants, Pyrotechnics, and Explosive and Chemical Safety. Further, the book includes an exhaustive bibliography at the end of each chapter (total references cited are more than 1000). It also provides the status of HEMs reported mainly during the last 50 years, including their prospects for military applications in the light of their physical, chemical, thermal and explosive properties. The likely development areas for further research are also highlighted. Accidents, fires and explosions in the explosive and chemical industries may be eliminated or minimized if the safety measures described in this book are implemented. 

This book contains six chapters. While chapter one of this book introduces the subject in terms of salient/fundamental features of explosives, additional requirements for military explosives and their applications (military, commercial, space, nuclear others), chapter 2 highlights the status of current and futuristic explosives in the light of their special characteristics. In addition, the future scope of research in this field has also been brought into focus in this chapter. 

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