Proceedings of the ASME 2009 International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition
IMECE2009
November13-19,
November 13-19,Lake
COHESIVE FINITE ELEMENT SIMULATION OF THE IMPACT RESPONSE OF
POLYMER BONDED EXPLOSIVES
A. BARUA and M. ZHOU
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering,
Georgia Institute of Technology,
Atlanta, GA -30332, USA.
abarua@gatech.edu
ABSTRACT
The impact response of HMX/Estane, a Polymer
Bonded Explosive (PBX), is analyzed under two-
dimensional plane-strain conditions using a
cohesive finite element method (CFEM). The
framework enables the consideration of arbitrary
microstructures. The binder polymer is modeled as
a viscoelastic material. The dependence of elastic
modulus on temperature across the glass transition
temperature Tg (= 233 K) is considered in the
constitutive framework. Also, the HMX crystals
are assumed to be elastic under the conditions
analyzed. Cohesive elements are implemented
throughout the microstructure, allowing explicit
tracking of arbitrary crack paths through each
constituent or interfaces between the constituents.
A contact algorithm used to track and account for
the interactions between failed crack surfaces. The
simulations capture the failure characteristics
observed experimentally at temperatures ranging
from below to above Tg of the polymer.
INTRODUCTION
Polymer bonded explosives (PBXs) are a class of
heterogeneous composites consisting of explosive
crystals held together by a softer binder. The
binder serves to provide structural strength and
reduces the shock sensitivity of the explosive.
Several experimental studies [1, 2] have focused
on the responses of both the pure constituents and
the overall composite. However, the effects of the
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IMECE2009-10767
IMECE2009-10767
microstructure on the thermomechanical response
of the PBX composite are relatively less
understood. Since several processes combine to
cause local high temperature zones or hot spots,
including severe deformation of the polymer
binder, debonding at the crystal/matrix interface
and crystal-crystal friction, a framework
accounting for all relevant thermal and mechanical
processes and the coupling of these processes has
been developed here to analyze and delineate these
effects in actual PBX microstructures.
FINITE DEFORMATION VISCOELASTIC
MODEL FOR THE BINDER
The polymer binder analyzed is Estane 5703 which
is used in PBX 9501. This viscoelastic material has
been modeled using a generalized Maxwell model
[3] to account for the effects of different relaxation
processes in the polymer. The bulk modulus is
assumed to be a constant and the shear modulus G
is expressed as a Prony series function of the
relaxation time t as
n
G ( t ) = Ge + ∑ Gi e −t / τi . (1)
i =1
Here, temperature dependence is considered using
the WLF function [4]. The finite strain viscoelastic
formulation used in the analysis is that described
in the ABAQUS theory manual [5].
 COHESIVE MODEL
Cohesive elements are distributed throughout the
finite element mesh, at all bulk element interfaces.
The bilinear traction-separation law developed in
[6] is used. A state variable l defines the
instantaneous mixed-mode separation between a
pair of cohesive surfaces as
2 2
∆  ∆ 
λ=  n  + t 
 ∆ nc   ∆ tc 
where Dn and Dt are, respectively, the normal and
tangential surface displacement jumps across a
cohesive surface pair. The irreversibility of the
separation process is modeled using another
parameter h = max {ho ,lul}, where ho is the initial
stiffness and lul is the hitherto maximum value of
l attained by the cohesive surface pair since the
beginning of the deformation. The cohesive work
of separation is taken as a function of l and h in
the form of
≤
  1- η  λ 2 
φo    , if 0 λ η
  1- ηo  η 
φ = φ ( λ,η ) = 
  ( 1- λ ) 
2
φ  1 - η
 o  1- η   1-  , if η

1- η
  o  
Cohesive traction on fracture surfaces is calculated
as the partial of j with respect to the surface
displacement jump vector or t = ∂φ / ∂∆ . This
form describes separation not only in tension and
pure shear, but also permits damage and failure in
compression, if sufficient shear loading is
imposed. The value of jo is set to equal to the
critical energy release rate Gc for fracture along
the interfaces. For the three types of interfaces
(grain/grain, matrix/matrix and grain/matrix) the
values of Gc are taken as 0.06, 192.0 and 81.0
J/m2, respectively. For cohesive surfaces before
failure, a large penalty stiffness k is use to strongly
discourage interpenetration under compression.
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CONTACT
Fracture of cohesive elements results in the
generation of free surfaces. A contact algorithm
similar to that in [7] is used to detect and prevent
interpenetration. In each time step, the nodal
displacement values for the subsequent step are
estimated. Possible contact and interpenetration
between surfaces are identified. If interpenetration
occurs, the relative normal acceleration and
, (2) velocities of the contact surfaces are set to zero.
The normal force and Coulomb friction force
acting tangentially on each surface element are
computed. Frictional dissipation and heating are
calculated and added to the thermal energy of the
respective node. The temperature rise at each node
is then calculated, accounting for inelastic
dissipation in bulk elements and heat conduction.
FINITE ELEMENT IMPLEMENTATION
The CFEM implementation uses 3-node constant
strain cross-triangular elements for plane strain
conditions. A convected coordinate, Lagrangian
≤
formulation of the field equations similar to those
(3)
[8] is used.
≤
≤
λ 1.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION
Two sets of calculations are carried out, one at a
temperature (313 K) above, and the other at a
temperature (233 K) below the glass transition
temperature of the binder. The results show that
different failure mechanisms are at work for the
different conditions. In all of the simulations,
debonding is seen near the grain/matrix interface.
At 313 K, the ductile behavior of the binder results
in the formation of shear bands which leads to the
development of hot spots and crystal/crystal
contact at large strains. At 233 K, the binder is
more brittle and cracks along grain/matrix
interfaces coalesce with cracks in the polymer
matrix. Overall, the observations from simulations
are in line with experimental results in the
literature. Further work is planned using rate and
temperature dependent cohesive laws.
2 Copyright © 2009 by ASME
 icrostructural model with
Fig. 1: Illustration of microstructur (a)
cohesive elements for HMX,, Estane Binder and
grain/matrix interfaces

(b)

Fig. 3: Temperature distribution

istribution in the
microstructure for compressive loading at
t = 0.9 mss and initial temperature of (a) 233 K and
(a) (b) 313 K, (Boundary velocity = 20.0 m/s)

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