Design, synthesis, and properties of melt-cast explosive carriers: a review

With the ongoing progress in modern weaponry, the utilization of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) as a carrier for melt-cast explosives is no longer sufficient to meet these requirements. This review provides a comprehensive overview of melt-cast explosive carriers developed by researchers in the past decade, which demonstrate exceptional overall performance. This review offers a comprehensive summary of the physicochemical properties, detonation performance, safety parameters, and synthetic routes of the carriers mentioned above. By summarizing the structures of these carriers, they can be categorized into four major groups: fluorinated compounds, oxazole compounds, fragment combination compounds, and stereoisomers. The advantages and disadvantages of the four main categories of compounds were analyzed and discussed, with the aim of providing a reference for the development of new melt-cast explosive carriers.