Fuel air explosive weapons are now well known. A
typical example of one is depicted in U.S. Pat. No.
3,955,509 which was issued to Gary A. Carlson on May 15
11, 1976.
Fuel air explosive weapons may be described as devices
which, upon activation, cause liquid fuel particles
to be dispersed in the form of a detonable cloud in the
air and then detonate the cloud. 20
A number of fuels have been used in fuel air explosive
weapons. Among these are ethylene oxide and propylene
oxide. Because of the ease with which is cloud of
ethylene oxide or propylene oxide can be detonated,
these two materials are the most commonly used. However, 25
these fuels have certain drawbacks.
One drawback, common to both ethylene oxide and propylene
oxide, is toxicity. Both materials are highly toxic. A
concentration of 50 parts per million of ethylene oxide 30
in the air may have harmful effects on one breathing the
air for about 8 hours. Propylene oxide is less toxic than
ethylene oxide but is still highly toxic. A concentration
of 100 parts per million of propylene oxide breathed for
about 8 hours may have undesirable effects. Naturally,
when fuel air explosive devices are stored in a confined 35
area such as aboard a ship, exposure for 8 hours is not
unusual.
Another drawback common to ethylene oxide and propylene
oxide is the fact that both have relatively low boiling 40
points, 10.4° C. and 34.2° C. respectively. This makes
the two difficult to handle in loading operations.
High vapor pressures also contribute to difficulty in
handling.
A drawback particularly associated with ethylene oxide 45
is its tendency to polymerize during storage. Left
alone in a fuel air explosive weapon or other container,
ethylene oxide tends to self polymerize. The polymerized
material is unsuitable for use as a fuel for a fuel air
explosive device. Unpolymerized ethylene oxide, on the 50
other hand is highly desirable as a fuel insofar as
detonability is concerned. Clouds containing from as
little as 3 up to as much as 100 percent by volume of
ethylene oxide are detonable. The detonation limits of
propylene oxide, on the other hand, range from about
3.1 to about 27.5 percent by volume. 55