1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides a process for mitigating shear induced particle migration of highly filled explosive suspensions during injection loading of the explosive suspension into a confined container.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Methods of using commercial bottle-filling devices for highly filled suspensions produces a high level of unacceptable ordnance because of process design defects and the complete reliance upon post-mortem radiography to determine pass or fail. Injection loading corrected several problems associated with the process design problems of commercial bottle-filling machines, but did not have sufficient process control to preemptively prevent the manufacture of reject ordnance. Injection loading remains reliant upon post-mortem radiography to determine acceptance and confirm suspected rejects, particularly when processing low viscosity plastic-bonded explosive (PBX).
Injection loading is an inter-disciplinary technology for transport operations being performed upon highly filled suspensions through narrow flow channels. Similar to injection molding techniques practiced in the plastics industry, a piston is used to transfer the viscous suspension from a reservoir into a mold cavity (see e.g., Tobin, W. J., Fundamentals of Injection Molding, 2nd edition, WJT Associates, Louisville, Colo., ISBN: 0-9369-9419-3, 2000 and Rosato, D. V., Rosato, D. V., and Rosato, G. R., Injection Molding Handbook, 3rd edition, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, ISBN: 0-7923-8619-1, 2001). However, unlike the traditional injection molding techniques, the mold is a component of the product rather than a component of the machine. Similar to the commercial bottle filling machines used in the food or pharmaceutical industries, the mold is a container that approaches the dispensing device where it is filled, and then taken away for final packaging (see e.g., Soroka, W., Fundamentals of Packaging Technology, 2nd edition, IoPP Press, Naperville, Ill., ISBN: 1-5667-6862-4, 1998).
There is a need in the art to provide improved methods for injecting highly filled explosive suspensions into confined containers. The present invention addresses this and other needs.