ANFO ammonium nitrate fuel oil

Ammonium nitrate (AN NH4NO3) is a white, crystalline material, the crystal structure of which varies with temperature.melting point is 442 K and its heat of fusion is 71.4 kj kg . Though the mass fraction of oxygen of AN is 0.5996, it is highly hygroscopic and absorbs moisture from the atmosphere to form liquid AN acid. This limits its application in propellants and pyrolants. However, AN is widely used as an oxidizer of explosives such as slurry explosives and ANFO (ammonium nitrate fuel oil) explosives. 

The physicochemical properties of explosives are fundamentally equivalent to those of propellants. Explosives are also made of energetic materials such as nitropolymers and composite materials composed of crystalline particles and polymeric materials. TNT, RDX, and HMX are typical energetic crystalline materials used as explosives. Furthermore, when ammonium nitrate (AN) particles are mixed with an oil, an energetic explosive named ANFO (ammonium nitrate fuel oil) is formed. AN with water is also an explosive, named slurry explosive, used in industrial and civil engineering. A difference between the materials used as explosives and propellants is not readily evident. Propellants can be detonated when they are subjected to excess heat energy or mechanical shock. Explosives can be deflagrated steadily without a detonation wave when they are gently heated without mechanical shock. 

This distinction is more in kind than in degree. Small quantities of primary or initiating explosives usually detonate when exposed to flames or high temperatures whiie secondary explosives usually burn or deflagrate under these conditions. However under slightly altered conditions primary explosives can be made to deflagrate and secondary explosives can be made to detonate. Examples of primary explosives are Lead Azide, Mercury Fulminate, DDNP, etc Examples of secondary explosives are PETN, RDX, HMX, Tetryl, TNT, as single HE compns and Comp B, Comp C, PBX 9404, Dynamite ANFO (Ammonium Nitrate/Fuel Oil) as HE mixtures... 

Sasol in South Africa produces a porous, prilled ammonium nitrate (PPAN) that finds its widest application in a mix with fuel oil. This mixture is used as an explosive and is commonly known as ANFO (Ammonium Nitrate Fuel Oil). Standard PPAN contains randomly distributed closed pores of an uncontrolled variable size and quantity. Sasol also makes EXPAN by using a patented process where polymeric microspheres are entrained uniformly in individual prills. Surfactants are added prior to the prilling process to ensure that the microspheres are evenly distributed in the prill. The addition of these microspheres (or encapsulated gas bubbles) reduces and controls prill density to desired levels. This improves the sensitivity and performance of the explosive while retaining the desirable properties of the standard prills (mechanical strength, oil absorption and free-flowability)106. 

SASOL in South Africa produces a porous, prilled ammonium nitrate (PPAN) that finds its widest application in a mix with fiiel oil. This mixture is used as an explosive and is commonly known as ANFO (Ammonium Nitrate Fuel Oil). Additional details about PPAN are given in Reference 106. 

ANFO = ammonium nitrate fuel oil 16 20 167 199 angle shot mortar test 269 Anilite = mixture of N204 and butane (french)... 

ANFO—Ammonium nitrate/fuel oil. This is an explosive mixture used in large scale blasting operations, approx.—Approximately. 

ANFO Ammonium nitrate-fuel oil. A mixture used extensively as a blasting agent in mining and quarrying. The proportions are approximately 94% ammonium nitrate and 6% fuel oil. ANFO has been used in terrorist attacks (e.g. an attack on the Murrah Federal Building, Oklahoma City, in 1995). 

ANFO—Ammonium Nitrate/Fuel Oil Statistics gathered by IME indicate that nearly 6 bilHon... 

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