Vacuum Stability Testing

Vacuum Stability Testing (VST, VTS) is widely used for reliable risk and safety management of single or double based gun powders, rocket fuels and other propellants, pyrotechnic mixtures, high explosives, hazardous chemicals, energetic polymers, binders and others. An integral part of this monitoring is also a testing of mixtures compatibility. Vacuum conditions provide the highest sensitivity for evolved gas quantification but testing conditions can be widely extended. Stability and compatibility consideration is deeply incorporated in the quality and safety management of production, storage and warehousing. All explosives containing products require certain inspections during their lifecycle. Some of them are inspected only during production but most of them are monitored periodically and their shelflife is strictly controlled.

A series of accidents of automotive parts with propellants and pyrotechnics proved the necessity of VST implementation into R&D and QC of civilian production. These new applications come with demanding requirements and sets the new technological level of VST performance.

GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS

DELTI-Vac is designed as a modular system that follows the maximal easiness and complexity of the application. Each component can be selected from a range of equipment to reach required testing conditions in a regime of vacuum, inert gas, air or oxygen.

Typical sample weight	5 grams
Typical testing temperature	90 - 120 °C
Typical testing time	40 - 48 hours
Typical vacuum range	0 - 100 kPa abs.
Maximum pressure range	0 - 100 bar abs.
Typical tube volume	25 ml
Maximum testing temperature	+ 250 °C
No. of samples	12 per block
Simultaneously operated units	Unlimited clustering

Download detailed technical specifications of DELTI-Vac MIL here.

Download detailed technical specifications of DELTI-Vac Revolution here.

COMPLIANCE

Explosives testing standards: STANAG 4556, 4147, 4022/4, 4023, 4230, 4284, 4566, MIL-STD-650, STANAG 4178 and AOP-48
Electrical safety: CE, CSA

MULTIFUNCTIONALITY

All-in-One unit DELTI-Vac Revolution is designed to provide unexceptional variability and allows testing according to all major stability standards. Typically followed standards are listed in the table below.

Standard Methods	Alternative Methods
Abel Heat Test	Vacuum drying chamber
Methyl Violet Test	Humidity and VOC content
100° Test	Volume of combustion gases
Weight Loss  Test	Water content in combustion gases
Bergmann-Junk Test 5A/B/C	Safe and precise distillation
Artificial Ageing Treatment	Alternative ageing procedures
Vacuum drying	Detection of runaway tendencies
Vacuum furnace	Polymer oxygen resistance
User-Defined Program	Induction period / Explosion Temperature Slow & Large scale DTA