Rheological Properties and Water-in-Oil Structural Stability of Emulsion Matrixes

The emulsion explosive is one of the important industrial explosives. The structural stability of the water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion matrix of an emulsion explosive determines the reliability of its initiation, safety and detonation performance. It is known that the emulsifier is one of the most important factors affecting W/O structural stability. In this paper, several emulsifiers with the functionalities of imide, amide, ester, salt, and sorbin monooleate (SMO) were selected. From the perspective of the rheological properties, the effects of the emulsifier structure and its functionality on the viscosity and visco-elastic properties of the emulsion matrix were analyzed and researched. The results show that emulsifiers with imide/amide functionality and their corresponding emulsion matrixes have higher viscosity at normal temperatures and better fluidity at high temperatures than those of the others. The linear visco-elastic region (LVR) for emulsion matrixes containing these emulsifiers is wider than that of the others. The effect of a change in ambient temperature on the viscosity for a complex emulsifier is small. The emulsion matrix containing the emulsifier named LZ2727B is the most stable, followed by the emulsifier named LZ2727D. This conclusion is consistent with the conclusions from tension tests and from high and low temperature cycling experiments. From the emulsifiers studied in this paper, LZ2727B and LZ2727D emulsifiers are very suitable for manufacturing packaged emulsion explosives. On the other hand emulsifiers based on SMO functionalities, named LZ2731 and LZ2735, are the best choices for manufacturing bulk emulsion explosives.