Black powder propellant

Pressure and Temperature Dependent Properties of Black Powder Propellants , Jour of the MIT Rocket Society (Jan 1974) 73) U.A. Lehi-... 

Figure 3.2 Burning rate and area ratio data from black powder propellant.

Although the compositions used in fountains are usually based on black powder propellant, the sparks that are responsible for the fountain effect originate from other substances within the composition. These substances are known as emitters and it is the physical and chemical properties of the emitters that determine the characteristics of the fountain. Various additives are also used to promote the visual effects or to cheapen the composition. 

Brass is the most popular material for cartridge cases and primer cups, with steel the second most widely used material for cartridge case manufacture. Soft copper primer cups encountered were all from old ammunition containing black powder propellant. 

Low explosives—explosive materials that can be caused to deflagrate when confined. T)q)ical examples include black powder, propellants, safety fuse, igniters, and fuse igniters. 

Black Powder. Black powder is mainly used as an igniter for nitrocellulose gun propellant, and to some extent in safety blasting fuse, delay fuses, and in firecrackers. Potassium nitrate black powder (74 wt %, 15.6 wt % carbon, 10.4 wt % sulfur) is used for military appHcations. The slower-burning, less cosdy, and more hygroscopic sodium nitrate black powder (71.0 wt %, 16.5 wt % carbon, 12.5 wt % sulfur) is used industrially. The reaction products of black powder are complex (Table 12) and change with the conditions of initia tion, confinement, and density. The reported thermochemical and performance characteristics vary greatly and depend on the source of material, its physical form, and the method of determination. Typical values are Hsted in Table 13. 

Secondary detonating explosive substance or black powder or article containing a secondary detonating explosive substance, in each case without means of initiation and without a propelling charge, or article containing a primary explosive substance and containing two or more independent safety features D... 

Black powder, a mixture of potassium nitrate, sulfur, and carbon, may have been invented in 10th centuiy China for fireworks. There is written record they used it in bamboo tubes to propel stone projm - es. There is evidence that Arabs invented it around 1300 A. D. using a gun rf... 

The US Dept of Defense Mil Spec for K nitrate is MIL-P-156B (18 April 1956) with Amendment 1 (31 July 1974). Three classes are specified Class 1 - for use in black powder and chemical munitions Class 2 - for use in pyrotechnic compositions and Class 3 — for use in propellants. The chemical requirements for these classes are given below ... 

The earliest solid propellant was Black Powder, also known as Gun Powder. Its history is de-... 

For onsite analysis, the examination of the vast number of samples necessitates the use of quick, reliable, field portable equipment that can rapidly, quantitatively verify the many chemically different types of ammunition, explosives, and pyrotechnics. The most common suite of analytes to detect is large, consisting of very chemically different compounds and usually occurs at trace levels in complex environmental matrices. This suite encompasses smokeless powders, black powders, and numerous propellant and energetic formulations. Detection should also be sought for common decomposition products of these explosives such as the methylanalines, aminonitrotoluenes, nitrotoluenes, mono- and dinitoroglycerines, and the nitrobenzenes under on-site conditions. 

Safety fuses are used for the direct ignition of propellants, pyrotechnics, and primary explosives. A safety fuse is composed of a black powder core, three layers of cotton or jute yarn wound around the core, bitumen impregnation, and plastic coating. The burn rate for a safety fuse is usually around 120 + 10 seconds/meter. 

Potassium perchlorate (KP KCIO4) is a weU-known oxidizer, used as an oxidizer component of black powder. Since KP produces potassium oxides and condensed products, the high molecular mass Mg of the combustion products is not favorable for its use as an oxidizer in rocket propellants. A mixture of 75 % KP with 25 % asphalt pitch was used as a rocket propellant named Galcit, which was the original prototype of a composite propellant in the 1940 s. Potassium chlorate (KCIO3) is also a crystalline oxidizer, and although it has a lower oxygen content compared... 

Though the oxidation potentials of potassium nitrate (KN KNO3) and sodium nitrate (SN NaN03) are high, both metal nitrates generate combustion products of high Mg, Thus, the specific impulse becomes low when KN or SN is used in a rocket propellant KN and SN are used as major ingredients of explosives and in pyrotechnics. KN is a weU-known material as a major component of black powder. 

Though the theoretical of black powder is less than that of single-base, doublebase, and AP-based composite propellants, black powder is useful for short-duration operation of simple propulsive systems. The advantages of the use of black powder are its low cost, its minimal deterioration with age, and simple regulation of the propulsive force by adjustment of the quantities used. 

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