Increased impact sensitivity in ageing high explosives; analysis of Amatol extracted from explosive remnants of war

Millions of tonnes of explosive remnants of war remain in nature, and the volume is continuously growing. The explosive legacy of wars represents an increasing threat to the environment and to societal safety and security. As munitions continue to deteriorate, harmful constituents will eventually leak into the environment, poisoning ecological receptors and contaminating the surrounding soil and groundwater. Moreover, deterioration due to exposure to various environmental factors may ultimately cause the munitions to become increasingly sensitive to external stimuli and susceptible to accidental detonation. To thoroughly assess how to address these ageing munitions, we must first establish certain threshold values for the safe and secure handling and final disposal of the explosive ordnance. One key factor is to establish how the impact sensitivity of the explosives evolves over time. In the present work, we investigated the high explosive substance Amatol extracted from ageing explosive remnants of war. The results obtained in the analysis indicate that the high explosives in the examined specimens generally were much more sensitive to impact than previously assumed. Furthermore, the analysis revealed that the standardised methodology of impact sensitivity testing was insufficient for estimating the sensitivities in question, and a more careful statistical analysis was required.