Toward a physically based quantitative modeling of impact sensitivities

Among the subsequent steps leading from impact to explosive decomposition in nitro compounds, the ability of early exothermic reactions to trigger the decomposition of neighboring molecules before the released energy has dissipated away is assumed to be critical. The rate of this process is roughly estimated using as inputs the energy content and the dissociation energy of the weakest X-NO2 bonds. While the sensitivity index thus obtained was previously shown to exhibit striking correlations with gap test pressures, its correlation with drop weight impact test data is poorer. Nevertheless, considering four different subsets of molecules depending on the environment of the most labile nitro groups, straightforward regressions against this sensitivity index yield a practical method to estimate impact sensitivity, whose combination of fair performance and generality is provided by no alternative approach, except purely empirical models based on extensive parametrization.