Ammonium nitrate and fuel

The preparation of powder explosives is in essence simple. In the case of mixtures of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil in particular, the only requirement is a method of mixing which does not cause undue breakdown of the absorbent grains of ammonium nitrate. Hand mixing is employed for small quantities, otherwise some form of rotating container or gently stirred vessel. 

Inorganic oxidizers are widely used as blasting agents in mining and construction explosives and also in improvised explosive devices utilized by terrorists. Ammonium-nitrate-based explosives (e.g., ammonium nitrate and fuel oil — ANFO) have almost completely replaced the majority of dynamites. In addition, slurry and emulsion explosives, which contain mosdy ammonium nitrate and a small amount of other oxidizers, have become widely used. 

Super AN/FO ammonium nitrate and fuel oil mixtures with metal additives to obtain increased strength. Super AN/FO is available in packages or can be delivered direct to the blasthole in bulk form. ... 

Figure 169 gives an idea of the apparatus which seemed to be in use at Bingham Mine, Utah. It permits charging horizontal, skew and vertical shotholes with an ammonium nitrate-fuel oil mixture. Ammonium nitrate (45.4 kg) is placed in the vessel. Fuel oil (3.78 1.) is introduced from a measuring tank. The ammonium nitrate and fuel oil are moved by compressed air (2.6 and 1.9 atm respectively). Mixing occurs in the lower part of the vessel and immediately afterwards the mixture is fed into the shothole. 

Ammonium nitrate is used in explosives, and many commercial and military explosives contain ammonium nitrate as the major explosive ingredient. Ammonium nitrate is difficult to detonate, but, when sensitized with oil or mixed with other explosive materials, it can be detonated with a large booster-primer. Amatol is a mixture of trinitrotoluene (TNT) and granular ammonium nitrate and is a major conventional military explosive. The explosive ANFO is a mixture of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil. 

Combination reactions require that two or more components react together exothermically to produce hot gases. Some examples are ammonium nitrate and fuel oil (ANFO), gunpowder (potassium nitrate, carbon, and sulfur), and fireworks. In these explosions, the reactants that make up the explosive must be carefully mixed to assure that the reaction will continue. 

There are also tertiary high explosives or blasting agents, which require a secondary explosive to set them off they are the most used explosives in mining operations—for example, mixtures of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil. 

Industrial explosives must be easy to shape, i.e., must have a gelatinous or powdery consistency in order to introduce the detonator or electric cap. Powder-form explosives are mostly based on ammonium nitrate and fuel components (e.g., aluminum). 

Quebrachitol nitrate is a transparent, viscous liquid, which is insoluble in water and acid. The compound is quite stable and much less sensitive then nitroglycerine. Quebrachitol nitrate shows excellent use as a high power substitute for nitroglycerine in dynamites and high performance gun propellants. It can also be used in making blasting gelatins with ammonium nitrate and fuel oil. 

Investigators determined that an ammonium nitrate bomb did, indeed, destroy the Murrah Building. The explosion resulted from a mixture of 4,800 pounds of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil from 20 plastic drums. 

Federal law regulates the sale of explosive-grade ammonium nitrate, which is used for 95 percent of all commercial blasting in road construction and mining. However, the wide availability of large quantities of ammonium nitrate and other substances that enhance its explosive power make it possible for anyone who is so-inclined to construct a bomb. The bomb that destroyed the federal building in Oklahoma City is estimated to have contained 4000 pounds of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, which was set off by another small explosive device. 

ANFO is a mixture of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, used as a blasting agent. 

ANFO An ammonium nitrate and fuel oil mixture, commonly used as a blasting agent. The proportions are determined by the manufacturer or user. It is commonly mixed with the addition of an enhancer, such as magnesium or aluminum, to increase the rate of burn. 

In more recent times, mixtures of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil (ANFO) are generally utiHzed as explosives in construction work, because of their low price and absence of unhealthy nitroglycerin vapors. However they require a highly effective blasting fuse. They have also been used in terrorist attacks in the USA, such as for instance one in Oklahoma City in 1995. 

ANFO is a high explosive made from Ammonium nitrate and fuel oil. This is the type of explosive Timothy McVeigh used to attack the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City or April 19,1995. It is composed of ammonium nitrate and 6% fuel oil. A similar mixture of urea nitrate and other materials was used in the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993. 

ANFO is a powerful explosive mixture containing ammonium nitrate and fuel oil. It was used in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Optimal power, related to Q, is obtained with a mixture of about 94% NH4NO3 and 6% fuel oil. What is the approximate oxygen balance of fuel oil ... 

The most commonly used blasting explosive mixture is ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, commonly called ANFO. It exhibits an interesting combination of both ideal and nonideal behavior at the C-J plane as a function of charge diameter and confinement. It also exhibits detonation product expansion behavior that requires additional reaction behind the C-J plane in contrast to the ammonium salt-explosive mixtures previously described. 

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