Artillery shells

Nature uses cellulose primarily as a structural material to impart strength and rigidity to plants. Leaves, grasses, and cotton, for instance, are primarily cellulose. Cellulose also serves as raw material for the manufacture of cellulose acetate, known commercially as acetate rayon, and cellulose nitrate, known as guncotton. Guncotton is the major ingredient in smokeless powder, the explosive propellant used in artillery shells and in ammunition for firearms. 

Growing gas content makes bubbles merge until ultimately they occupy the central part of the pipe section, reaching 1 metre and more in length these long bubbles are separated from the pipe wall by a thin layer of water. They have the shape of an ellipsoid at the front, and are cut off at the back, not unlike artillery shells. Hence the term, shell mode. 

Phosgene was used tactically as a delayed or immediate action casualty gas. It was first employed by the Germans in WWI (Dec, 1915) in cylinders under the name D-Stoff. The French iater (1916) employed phosgene as an artillery shell filler (Collingite). During the remainder of the war it was the Allies principal war gas, used also in trench mortars, bombs, and projector drums (Ref 2)... 

As stated, the major uses for these proplnts are for small arms ammo, mortar shells and artillery shells up to 280mm. They are also used as the propelling charge in naval guns... 

Triple-base propints use primarily NGu as a third major ingredient in addition to NC and NG. Typical compns are shown in Table 3. The major use of this type of proplnt is in gun proplnts for mortar and artillery shells... 

By the end of the war, poison gases filled one in four artillery shells used by both sides. In military terms, however, poison gas failed. Since masks provided quite effective protection, poison gas was never a decisive weapon on the Western Front the fatality rate for firearms was ten times higher. Poison gas was not used in the next world war. In fact, if World War I had continued, chemical warfare would have backfired on the Germans. Prevailing winds blow eastward, and Germany had run out of mask material and had no fabric to reclothe soldiers blistered by corrosive gases. 

This material is on the ITF-25 high threat, the FBI threat list, and Schedule 3 of the CWC. Ignites 50% of the time when disseminated from an artillery shell. 

One of the earlier methods was to treat cellulose with sodium hydroxide and carbon disulfide to obtain xanthate esters which could be dispersed in water and cast into sheets or spun into fibers. Subsequent treatment with acid decomposed the xanthates and gave regenerated cellulose, either in fiber or film form. The fibers were called viscose rayon and the films were named cellophane. Cellophane is still used as a wrapping film and some of it is still manufactured by the xanthate process. By treatment with nitric acid, cellulose was converted to a trinitric acid ester, which could be cast into units which were satisfactory for making gun cotton for a smokeless powder for either artillery shells or shotgun ammunition. It was quite insoluble but it could be converted to a jelly-like mass, which could be shaped into a desired form for ammunition use. Under milder conditions, a lower nitrate... 

Both the Departments of the Army and the Navy have used mineral-insulated band heaters for various superheating applications. For example, the Department of the Navy uses similar equipment to test chemical stability of components within artillery shells (AEA, 2001a). In addition to high watt densities, these heaters provide even temperature profiles and fairly precise temperature control. 

Uses/Sources. Manufacture of rat poisons for smoke screens gas analysis fireworks in ammunitions such as mortar, artillery shells, and grenades the elemental material is produced as a by-product in the production of phosphate fertilizer it does not occur in the elemental state in nature... 

Unexploded ordnance, usually referring to items such as bombs or artillery shells that failed to explode when employed, but also referring to items containing explosives that were abandoned or misplaced. 

Surface contamination was found to vary widely from mine to mine, but effective average contamination from a number of mines of several national origins seems to be about 15 to 18 ng/cm2. Contamination in the painted surface of mortar and artillery shells was similar [8],... 

Munitions that are designed to be dynamically placed, such as bombs, mortar rounds, or artillery shells, must naturally have stronger, usually steel, cases. These munitions, when they appear either as duds or as abandoned UXO, will have no significant diffusion, except through seals or o-rings. This diffusion should be expected to be considerably less than that available from mines. Duds often have case damage that can provide leak paths for the molecules. Naturally, this is not quantifiable in any predictive way. 

To this definition must be added that every detonation is accompanied by a very sharp noise (report), which always accompanies bursting of bombs, artillery shells, mine , grenades, torpedoes, etc. 

Mem No 22 (1959), entitled "Soft Recovery of Artillery Shell by Rocket Sled Method ... 

It should be noted, however, that in modern warfare, the incendiary-loaded artillery shell has become of secondary importance. This is because good targets for incendiaries are nowadays seldom found within range of artillery. If such targets are found, they usually can be destroyed more readily by incendiary aircraft bombs than by artillery. Thus, the effective use of the incendiary shell is narrowed to certain specialized targets and to situations in which the air force cannot be easily utilized... 

NaCl 1.5%. Used for propelling many Artillery Shells (Ref 1, p 33)... 

Impact Sensitivity — comparable with PETN(FI) Power by Ballistic Mortar Test — 108% TNT Power by Trauzl Test — 115% TNT Thermal Stability at 135° — acidic in 30 mins Uses Due to the presence of excess O, HNEt forms in mixts with HE s deficient in O, very powerful e pls. Claessen (Ref 2) patented in 1913 several mixts with TNT suitable as bursting or booster chges of artillery shells. 

Many of the early gases used in artillery shell proved unsuitable or were not adapted to field conditions. Thus, out. of more than 50 chem substances loaded into artillery shell, oaly 4 or 5 proved effective in battle. Often the efficiency of a shell could be definitely. ascertained only after a large number of rounds had been fired. For example, the French Vincennite shell was filled with a raixt of hydrocyanic acid arsenic trichloride, which had a marked toxicity in lab tests. Yet, after 4 million shells were filled with this mixt it was not an effective gas under battle conditions... 

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