Estimating impact breakup and initiation parameters of condensed explosives

The existence of two critical states of an explosive material associated with the weakening of a layer of explosive and the excitation of an explosion is examined qualitatively on the basis of the general concepts of mechanical deformation and destruction of a thin layer of viscoplastic explosive material under impact and the resulting dissipative and chemical heat release. The critical conditions, i.e., the impact energy and the pressure created by it in the material, for destruction and initiation of the explosive material are estimated. The results are used to explain experimental data on the dependence of the initiation parameters on the thickness of a layer of explosive material which are of practical interest for analyzing tests of the sensitivity of explosive systems to mechanical interactions.