Exploding bridgewire (EBW) detonators are used for a variety of purposes and subjected to a wide range of conditions during transport and use, however, few studies have been conducted on stability at high temperatures. Many EBW’s contain pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) as the initiating explosive, which has been shown to exhibit a relatively low melt at 141 °C, followed by an onset of decomposition of approximately 160 °C. In the present work, we have evaluated the behavior of PETN with X-ray radiography in commercial RP-80 EBW detonators at temperatures just above the melt. These experiments show that PETN remains stable in the solid-state, but after reaching the melt temperature is vulnerable to mixing, followed by rapid evolution of gases and decomposition. Our results indicate that the orientation of the thermally treated detonator with respect to gravity is important after the PETN reaches the melted state: this shows for the first time why thermal tests on PETN-based detonators often result in varied outcomes.

中文翻译：

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基于 PETN 的爆炸桥线雷管熔化后的功能

爆炸桥线 (EBW) 雷管用于多种目的，在运输和使用过程中会受到各​​种条件的影响，但是，很少有关于高温稳定性的研究。许多 EBW 包含四硝酸季戊四醇酯 (PETN) 作为起爆炸药，已显示其在 141 °C 时表现出相对较低的熔体，然后在大约 160 °C 开始分解。在目前的工作中，我们在商业 RP-80 EBW 雷管中用 X 射线照相术评估了 PETN 在略高于熔体的温度下的行为。这些实验表明，PETN 在固态下保持稳定，但在达到熔融温度后很容易发生混合，随后会迅速释放出气体并分解。