PBX 9502 Literature Review: An Engineering Perspective
Engineering analysis for the stockpile systems requires that materials used in the stockpile be characterized properly. One of these materials is PBX 9502, an insensitive high explosive (IHE). The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is working to improve its engineering material modeling capability for PBX 9502.This effort includes the development of requirements for an engineering material model (or models), review of material models currently used for engineering simulations, and review of currently available thermal-mechanical test data. The information obtained will either help to enhance the existing models or help the development and implementation of a new model or models. This document summarizes a review of literature on PBX 9502 that was performed over the past several months. The review was focused primarily on literature dealing with the characterization of PBX 9502 from a thermo-mechanical standpoint. Literature dealing with the formulation, explosive performance, and sensitivity was not included in this report. It should be noted that, like most research of this nature, this literature review is not intended to be all-inclusive. However, it provides a detailed baseline of the information that is available and will be very useful to those seeking to expand the PBX 9502 knowledge base.