Insensitive munitions are almost always filled with fire resistant, shock resistant insensitive high explosives (IHE) such as triaminotrinitrobenze (TATB) or various insensitive explosive mixtures, or plastic/polymer-bonded explosives, which are similar to reactive materials. TATB particularly will not detonate if impacted by typical fragments or burned in a fire.
A new IHE called Insensitive Munitions Explosive (IMX-101), has been qualified and approved by the U.S. Army to replace trinitrotoluene (TNT). IMX-101 is said to have the “same lethality as traditional TNT, but is far less likely to explode if dropped, shot at or hit by a roadside bomb during transport”. This IHE has been tested and proven to be a safer alternative within large-caliber projectiles currently utilized by the Army and Marine Corps.
Another IHE, experimental, is FOX-7.
IHEs often combine amino groups and nitro groups in the same molecule.
Read more about this topic: Insensitive Munitions
Famous quotes containing the words insensitive and/or high:
“I think sometimes that it is almost a pity to enjoy Italy as much as I do, because the acuteness of my sensations makes them rather exhausting; but when I see the stupid Italians I have met here, completely insensitive to their surroundings, and ignorant of the treasures of art and history among which they have grown up, I begin to think it is better to be an American, and bring to it all a mind and eye unblunted by custom.”
—Edith Wharton (1862–1937)
“Rather than words comes the thought of high windows:
The sun-comprehending glass,
And beyond it, the deep blue air, that shows
Nothing, and is nowhere, and is endless.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)