Explosive pipe cutting

An explosive material-energized plasticized metal slug cutter for use within tubular cylinders, or pipe or similar structures-especially in buried or otherwise inaccessible locations is disclosed. The cutter includes explosive material initially disposed in a particular hourglass or dogbone shape and surrounded by a layer of explosive-plasticizable copper or similar material which becomes both heated to plasticity and imparted with kinetic energy upon explosive material detonation. The hourglass or dogbone shape of the explosive material provides focus or shaping of the copper metal into a confined slug pattern enabling a clean and relatively low expended-energy cutting of a surrounding tubular cylinder into axial segments. The cutter employs a cutting action inclusive of spalling at the outer surface of the cut tubing opposite the region of slug impact. Scaling of explosive material sizes, weights and shapes for differing tubular cylinder dimensions is disclosed along with a mathematical algorithm usable in cutting action prediction.