Experimental simulation of microinteractions in large scale explosions

The fragmentation behavior of molten steel drops forced to explode in susta ined pressure fields is investigated. The effect of pressure amplitude, mel t superheat, and coolant velocity is considered. The data include external images from high-speed movies, internal structures from simultaneously obta ined flash X-ray radiographs, and solidified debris size distributions and morphology from scanning electron micrographs. The results demonstrate the importance of all three parameters studied on both the rates and extent of the interaction/fragmentation. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights re served.