Liquid Explosive in Pipes

A simple effective means of testing a liquid explosive in the field was conceived and demonstrated. The central idea was to contain the liquid explosive in plastic pipe and to utilize high speed photography to examine detonation characteristics. Because plastic pipe is a weak confinement, it does not promote detonation of liquid explosive. All the liquid explosives tested were amine-sensitized nitromethane mixtures. Photo diagnostics of the detonations were enhanced by double exposure of the film. Six grams of explosive will reliably initiate 5 mixtures and detonation will propagate through at least a 16-mm passage. This technique proves which mixtures are detonable and bounds their detonation characteristics, such as initiation requirement, critical diameter, velocity and steadiness, and sustainable length of propagation. Nitromethane, Explosives.