A NEW PROCESS TO PRODUCE CAST PBX FILLED SHELLS AT MINIMAZED COST

摘要

A subsidiary of SNPE, EURENCO, has a long history of promoting cast-cured plastic bonded explosive (cast PBX) and is considered as a leader in this technology. Full scale productions started 35 years ago at Sorgues plant. The first applications were missile warheads, then underwater mines and torpedoes and more recently multipurpose bombs and penetrators. The process used is a batch process perfectly adapted for such applications, but it cannot be used for mass production of small items (some kilograms of PBX). That refers to the well known limitation coming from the "pot life" of thermosetting products. So, to overcome this problem EURENCO has developed and worldwide patented a new process called bi component process, which allows the production at industrial scale of small items filled with cast-cured PBX. The objective of this paper is to describe this process and to present results obtained with different formulations, in comparison with batch process results. The automated production line that was commissioned in 2006 at EURENCO Sorgues-plant will be presented. With this workshop, EURENCO is now able to produce cast PBX-filled shells at minimized cost.