Characterization and Quantification of Polymer Content in Plastic Explosives Using FT-IR Techniques

Abstract

High explosives are tools used in different areas of research and are critical components in conventional and nuclear weapons. PBXs (plastic explosives) were developed to reduce the sensitivity of explosives, and are widely used in both applications, civil and military, where high performance is required. As the weapons may be used in aggressive thermal and mechanical environments, it is important to characterize the PBXs, in order to know its behavior and properties. Therefore, contributing for research of PBXs, is discussed in this chapter a methodology to characterize and to quantify the polymer content in PBX by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), using the High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and Thermogravimetry (TG) as reference techniques to quantitative method. The proposed methodology for quantification of polymers in PBX uses the technique FT-IR of reflection ATR and UATR, being faster than the usual methodologies and eliminating the disadvantage of chemical residues generation.