Characterization of PAX‐21 Insensitive Munition Detonation Residues

Insensitive high explosives are being used in military munitions to counteract unintended detonations during storage and transportation. These formulations contain compounds such as 2,4‐dinitroanisole (DNAN) and 3‐nitro‐1,2,4‐triazol‐5‐one (NTO), which are less sensitive to shock and heat than conventional explosives. We conducted a series of four tests on snow‐covered ice utilizing 60‐mm mortar cartridges filled with 358 g of PAX‐21, a mixture of RDX, DNAN, and ammonium perchlorate. Rounds were detonated high‐ and low‐order using a fuze simulator to initiate detonation. Blow‐in‐place (BIP) operations were conducted on fuzed rounds using an external donor charge or a shaped‐charge initiator. Results indicate that 0.001 % of the original mass of RDX and DNAN were deposited during high‐order detonations, but up to 28 % of the perchlorate remained. For the donor block BIPs, 1 % of the RDX and DNAN remained. Residues masses for these operations were significantly higher than for conventional munitions. Low‐order detonations deposited 10–15 % of their original explosive filler in friable chunks up to 5.2 g in mass. Shaped‐charge BIPs scattered 15 % of the filler and produced chunks up to 15 g. Ammonium perchlorate residue masses were extremely high because of the presence of large AP crystals, up to 400 μm in the recovered particles.     

Synthesis of brominated tetrathiafulvalenes via phosphite-mediated cross-coupling

The synthesis of polybrominated tetrathiafulvalenes (TTF–Br_n, 2–4) containing 2–4 bromine atoms via phosphite-mediated cross-coupling of bromo-substituted 1,3-dithiole-2-thiones and 1,3-dithiole-2-ones is reported.     

Synthesis,characterization and in vitro application of pH/temperature sensitive superabsorbent hydrogel of phosphated co-polymer of methacrylic acid and methyl methacrylate ester

This study presents an efficient functionalization method of methacrylic polymers such as Eudragit L100. The incorporation of phosphate groups results in pH/temperature-sensitive superabsorbent hydrogels. They are characterized spectroscopically by ¹H-, ¹³ C- ³¹P-NMR and FT-IR. Thermal analyses, powder X-ray diffractometry and scanning electron microscopy are also carried out. The swelling experiments of the hydrogels take place in phosphate buffer of different pH values at various temperatures and it is found that the hydrogels follow second order kinetics. The swelling percents are in the range of 5200 and 2160 % at 37 °C and pH 7.2, and up to 7130 % at 55 °C and pH 8.0. The matrices of the hydrogels show bimodal curves on the dissolution study which correlate the drug release with the swelling results. The release of the drug achieves values from 12 to 24 times slower than those obtained with Eudragit L100. The synthesized hydrogels respond to changes in pH and temperature and show a collapsing to swelling phase behavior not reported before. These properties make them useful to be studied as potential in site-specific delivery systems.     

CFD modelling and scale-up of Confined Impinging Jet Reactors

Confined Impinging Jet Reactors (CIJRs) are appealing devices for precipitation of nanoparticles because of their high mixing efficiency. In fact, since precipitation processes are generally very fast, mixing plays a crucial role and it is of great importance to operate under very fast mixing conditions. In this work mixing and reaction in CIJRs are studied by means of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Mixing at the molecular level is modelled with a presumed Probability Density Function (PDF) approach: the Direct Quadrature Method of Moments coupled with the Interaction by Exchange with the Mean (DQMOM-IEM) model. The influence of operating conditions and reactor geometry on mixing is also evaluated and a scale-up criterion for CIJRs is developed, showing that scaling up by means of CFD is a practicable path, worth of further investigation.     

Energetic Residues from the Detonation of IMX‐104 Insensitive Munitions

The development of insensitive munitions by NATO countries is an ongoing effort. Less‐sensitive ingredients in both explosives and propellants will ensure the protection of deployed troops against an unwanted reaction to an external stimulus on the munitions stockpile. In the US Army, current efforts are directed towards the development of melt cast insensitive explosive formulations. Various formulations, mainly based on DNAN and NTO, have been developed and are now being fielded. Our research goal is to measure the deposition rate of energetics compounds from various insensitive munitions detonation scenarios. Our hypothesis is that the relative insensitiveness of these formulations leads to slightly higher deposition rates than conventional explosive formulations. This paper describes detonation residues research on mortar rounds containing IMX‐104 explosive. Analyses indicate that high‐order detonation residues are slightly greater for this formulation than for conventional munitions. However, blow‐in‐place detonations (BIPs) resulted in much higher residues deposition, indicating that a larger donor charge is required for efficient detonation. The highly soluble compound NTO was particularly problematic, with BIP deposition approaching 95 % of the original load. Toxicological studies of NTO are not finalized, leaving considerable uncertainty regarding the feasibility of approving these rounds for distribution.     

General Error Locator Polynomials for Binary Cyclic Codes With $t le 2$ and $n < 63$

In this paper, we show that a recently proposed algorithm for decoding cyclic codes may be applied efficiently to all binary cyclic codes with tles2 and n<63. This is accomplished by providing structure theorems for the codes in this range and classifying the relevant cases     

Electrical spiking in bacterial biofilms

In nature, biofilms are the most common form of bacterial growth. In biofilms, bacteria display coordinated behaviour to perform specific functions. Here, we investigated electrical signalling as a possible driver in biofilm sociobiology. Using a multi-electrode array system that enables high spatio-temporal resolution, we studied the electrical activity in two biofilm-forming strains and one non-biofilm-forming strain. The action potential rates monitored during biofilm-forming bacterial growth exhibited a one-peak maximum with a long tail, corresponding to the highest biofilm development. This peak was not observed for the non-biofilm-forming strain, demonstrating that the intensity of the electrical activity was not linearly related to the bacterial density, but was instead correlated with biofilm formation. Results obtained indicate that the analysis of the spatio-temporal electrical activity of bacteria during biofilm formation can open a new frontier in the study of the emergence of collective microbial behaviour.     

Turbulent precipitation in micromixers: CFD simulation and flow field validation

The object of this work is the investigation of the process of nanoparticles turbulent precipitation in a micromixer, the Confined Impinging Jets Mixer. This study is motivated by the increasing importance that nanoparticulate systems have for applications in several fields and by the consequent necessity of developing an economical and reliable process for the production of nanoparticles with the desired qualities, in terms of size, morphology and composition. The precipitation process is among the most promising processes for this purpose, and micromixers, such as the CIJM, are employed because they provide high mixing rates and efficiencies, which are needed because the process is highly mixing sensitive. Here a precipitation model based on classical precipitation theory and Computational Fluid Dynamics was developed and tested on barium sulphate precipitation, which is often employed as a mixing sensitive test reaction alternative to parallel competitive reactions. The use of barium sulphate precipitation also allows to assess the capability of the CIJM of producing very fine particulate systems. The flow field is modelled with a RANS approach, and validated through comparison with experimental data, obtained with the microscopic Particle Image Velocimetry. Model predictions on barium sulphate mean particles size were compared with experimental data and good agreement was found.     

Synthesis of a polynorbornene containing 3,5-di-TERT-butyl-4-hydroxybenzoyl group

Summary A new polynorbornene derivative was synthesized by ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of 5- {[(3,5-di-t-butyl-4-hydroxy-benzoyl)oxy]methyl}-2-norbornene (BHBN) using Ru- and Os-based catalysts. The structure and properties of the poly(BHBN) were characterized by NMR, IR, DTA, DSC, and GPC. It was shown that ROMP leads to the formation of high molecular weight polynor-bornene derivatives containing the stabilizing group.     

Solvent assisted decomposition of the tetrahedral intermediate of the transesterification reaction to biodiesel production. A density functional study

B3LYP/6-31 + G(d) calculations were employed to investigate the mechanism of the transesterification reaction between a model monoglyceride and the methoxide and ethoxide anions. The gas-phase results reveal that both reactions have essentially the same activation energy (5.9 kcal mol⁻¹) for decomposition of the key tetrahedral intermediate. Solvent effects were included by means of both microsolvation and the polarizable continuum solvation model CPCM. Both solvent approaches reduce the activation energy, however, only the microsolvation model is able to introduce some differentiation between methanol and ethanol, yielding a lower activation energy for decomposition of the tetrahedral intermediate in the reaction with methanol (1.1 kcal mol⁻¹) than for the corresponding reaction with ethanol (2.8 kcal mol⁻¹), in line with experimental evidences. Analysis of the individual energy components within the CPCM approach reveals that electrostatic interactions are the main contribution to stabilization of the transition state.