Thermal stability of explosives

Thermal decomposition rates and mechanisms of explosives are of obvious importance to efforts designed to enhance safety in manufacturing, storage and handling of these energetic materials. To assess the thermal stability of energetic materials a series of analyses have to be performed. This paper gives an overview on the classical tests used to establish the safety parameters. The modern analytical methods applied today are also presented and illustrated. The development of technology and the use of advanced numerical techniques such as AKTS-TA-Software(R) enables prediction of the reaction progress of materials in broad temperature ranges. In fact, the goal for numerical simulations is to replace experiments in situations when direct accessibility to the test item or set-up is not possible for timing or safety reasons. The introduction of such new methodology will lead to approaches as close as possible to the reality but will never be able to reach it.