Initiation of Explosion in AgN₃ and β-PbN₆ Single Crystals by a Collapsing Bubble

Abstract

RECENTLY Bowden and McOnie¹ described the part played by cavities in a confined liquid nitroglycerine film in transforming slow burning into an explosion. They suggested that the formation of the cavities in the initially homogenous explosive film ahead of the burning zone was connected with the precursor waves in the solid confining the film which moved faster than the subsonic burning in the film itself. They further suggested that the low velocity detonation in a confined liquid explosive film is sustained by the formation of cavities ahead of the reaction zone. A similar model has been given by Watson et al.² for the propagation of a stable low velocity detonation in a liquid explosive confined in a cylindrical tube. The mechanism of formation of cavities is still not clearly understood, however.