IMX-101 is a high-performance insensitive high explosive composite mixture developed by BAE Systems and the United States Army to replace TNT in artillery shells, starting as soon as 2011. IMX stands for "Insensitive Munitions eXplosives", which refers to the purpose of IMX-101: to provide explosive force equivalent to TNT without its sensitivity to shocks such as gunfire, explosions from improvised explosive devices, fire, and shrapnel. For example, it is believed that a training incident in Nevada which killed seven Marines would not have occurred with the new explosive. On March 23, 2013, the United States Army ordered $780 million worth of the explosive, with a production of millions of pounds annually, to be produced by BAE at Holston Army Ammunition Plant in Tennessee. The new explosive will cost $8 per pound, compared to $6 per pound for TNT.
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Composition
It is composed of ingredients including 2,4-dinitroanisole (DNAN) and nitrotriazolone (NTO). The nominal composition is DNAN, NQ (nitroguanidine), NTO. Trace amounts of MNA (N-methyl-p-nitroaniline) are included in some formulations to aid in processing.
The performance of PAX-28, a thermobaric, containing a mixture of RDX, DNAN, Al, AP and MNA was found to have an indoor explosive equivalency factor of 1.62 when compared to Composition B. OSX-12 is being studied as a replacement to PAX-28.
Reception
Time Magazine called IMX-101 one of the "50 best inventions of 2010".
Processing
Like Composition B, IMX formulations are melt-castable without thermal degradation, and are thus processed into munitions by a melt pour process starting with a batch melt kettle heated by a steam heat exchanger.