Authored by an insider with over 40 years of high energy materials (HEMs) experience in academia, industry and defense organizations, this handbook and ready reference covers all important HEMs from the 1950s to the present with their respective properties and intended purposes. Written at an attainable level for professionals, engineers and technicians alike, the book provides a comprehensive view of the current status and suggests further directions for research and development. An introductory chapter on the chemical and thermodynamic basics allows the reader to become acquainted with the fundamental features of explosives, before moving on to the important safety aspects in processing, handling, transportation and storage of high energy materials. With its collation of results and formulation strategies hitherto scattered in the literature, this should be on the shelf of every HEM researcher and developer.

Jai Prakash Agrawal is the former Director of Materials of the Indian Defence Research and Development Organization. He obtained his PhD in Chemistry from the Gorakhpur University, India, and did postdoctoral work at the University of Saint-Etienne, France, and at the Cavendish Laboratory of the University of Cambridge, UK. In recognition of his achievements Dr. Agrawal was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, London. The focus of his scientific and professional career is on research and development in the field of propellants, explosives and inhibitory materials. He has written a monograph on "Composite Materials" and is recipient of several honours including the prestigious DRDO Technology Award. Together with Robert Hodgson he has authored the book "Organic Chemistry of Explosives", John Wiley & Sons.