Adv. Studies Theor. Phys., Vol. 7, 2013, no. 5, 207 - 228 HIKARI Ltd, www.m-hikari.com Energetic Measures of Effectiveness John F. Moxnes ∗ , Tomas L. Jensen and Erik Unneberg Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI) P. O. Box 25, NO-2027 Kjeller, Norway Copyright © 2013 John F. Moxnes et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract In this work we study different energetic measures such as calorimetric energy of explosion, work of explosion, work of Carnot, enthalpy of explosion and free energy of explosion of aluminized explosives. For highly aluminized explosives with around 50 % aluminum and 50 % RDX we find that the work of Carnot is of the same size as the work of explosion. In general, we find that due to irreversible processes, none of the commonly used energy concepts in the literature are good measures of effectiveness. Mathematical relations that can be used to calculate the mechanical work, the work of explosion and the work of Carnot are presented. Keywords: RDX, Aluminum, Reactions, Work of explosion, Mechanical work, Work of Carnot 1 Introduction The addition of metal particles to energetic materials is a well-known method to improve their efficiency. Aluminum (Al) powders are now widely used in pyrotechnics, rocket propellants, fuel-air and aluminized explosives. In propellants Al is used to increase thrust, while in military explosives to enhance air blast, incendiary effects, and bubble energies in underwater weapons. In general, cost and environmentally benign products are additional advantages of aluminized energetic materials. * Corresponding author; e-mail: john-f.moxnes@ffi.no