Abstract
Direct explosive compaction of powder is a process that is not widely exploited. It has been investigated by several workers. The mechanisms proposed were based on the fact that the energy developed by the explosive promotes compaction by (a) the kinetic energy acquired by the container or (b) the pressure transmitted by the container. The relevant parameters used for these explanations were either R 1, weight of explosive/weight of container, or R 2, weight of explosive/weight of powder to be compacted. Experiments using iron and copper powders and tubular containers of different internal diameter (i.d.) show that direct explosive powder compaction cannot be explained by only one parameter. When the container i.d. is small, the process is governed by the energy consumed by the container and the prevailing parameter is R 1. When the container i.d. is large enough, the process is governed by the energy consumed by the powder and the prevailing parameter is R 2. Between these, there is a zone in which the process is governed by R 3, weight of explosive/weight of container plus weight of powder. In this zone the graph of i.d. ν. R 3 shows a straight line with a negative slope for a given final percentage of theoretical density (TD). Different percentages of TD are represented by different parallel lines. The slope of these lines shows qualitatively the energy consumed during powder compaction. PM/0291
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