Difurazanopyrazine (DFP): A promising candidate for insensitive high explosive (IHE) applications

Developing new explosives with the low sensitivity of 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (TATB) and the high performance of 1,3,5-Trinitro-1,3,5-triazinane (RDX) has been a longstanding goal for energetic materials chemists. However, there is generally a dichotomy between increased performance with reduced sensitivity, making this a challenging effort. Additionally, current materials being investigated as TATB-replacements either suffer from higher sensitivity or reduced performance, compared to TATB, and therefore there is no true TATB-replacement material. In an effort to find a TATB-replacement, we synthesized 4H,8H-difurazano[3 4-b:3',4'-e]pyrazine (DFP) and found that it is an explosive molecule, despite the lack of typical energetic functional groups (i.e. nitro, azido, nitrato, nitroamine). DFP was formulated with a variety of binders via resonant acoustic mixing and spray drying and pressed into pellets up to 98 % theoretical maximum density (TMD). DFP and its formulations have TATB-like sensitivity and high thermal stabilities, while maintaining good detonation properties, making it a promising TATB-replacement material.