Explosives commercial

As of this writing, there is only one commercial manufacturer of dynamite in the United States, Dyno Nobel (Carthage, MO). For most commercial purposes, dynamites have now been replaced by AN-based formulations, which offer a better combination of performance, safety, and cost. 

In addition to the main ingredients, dynamites may contain a variety of other ingrediients, usually at less than the 3% level clear wheat, cob meal, balsa, starch, 

Modem commercial explosives are generally mixtures of AN and fuel. These mixtures do not have the high detonation velocity exhibited by mihtary materials, but they do detonate satisfactorily. The key to their performance is an intimate mix of the oxidizer (AN) and fuel, such as in the formulation ANFO, where the fuel is allowed to soak into the AN. Often a dye is added as a safety marker to commercial ANFO, as otherwise there is no obvious visible difference between the explosive and neat AN. The latter is generally classed as an oxidizer and can be freely transported. 

Owing to their intrinsic safety and inexpensive nature, AN/fuel formulations have almost completely replaced dynamites as the mining explosive. As a result, they are by far the most widely used explosive. AN formulations are sold as AN prill or solution, ANFO pre-mixed, AN water—gel (although this is becoming obsolete) AN emulsions, either in cartridges or as bulk material that is brought to the site and loaded directly from the tmck to the borehole and heavy ANFO (ANFO folded into an AN emulsion). AN formulations usually require the use of a high explosive booster, but powerful and cap-sensitive formulations can be prepared. 

Ammonium nitrate is the cheapest source of oxygen available for commercial explosives at the present time. It is used by itself in conjunction with fuels, or to give more sensitive explosives in admixture with solid fuels and sensitisers such as nitroglycerine and TNT. It is, therefore, a compound of particular importance for the explosives industry. 

Ammonium nitrate is made by the neutralisation of nitric acid with ammonia. The details of these processes are given in other volumes of this series. For particular application in explosives, ammonium nitrate is required in specialised forms, of which the following two are the most important. 

Ammonium nitrate undergoes phase changes at 32° and 83°C and melts at 170°. It is not normally considered an explosive when pure, although under suitable conditions it can be made to detonate. When mixed with small amounts of organic matter it becomes much more sensitive and several serious explosions have occurred with such mixtures. The limit of organic matter so far allowed in the U.K. is 0-05%, but in some countries 0 1% is accepted. 

It was discovered by Sobrero in 1847, but was developed to a commercial scale by Nobel. It has for a long time been, and still is, the most important sensitiser for commercial explosives. 

Nitroglycerine is made by reacting purified glycerine with a mixed acid 

---

J. W. Patterson and R. A. Minear, State of the Art for the Inorganic Chemicals Industy Commercial Explosives, 600/2-74-009b, Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., 1975. 

R. W. Watson,. E. Hay, and R. W. Van Dolah, "Commercial Explosives in the United States GeneraUties and Some Details," in Symposium on Militay Applications of Commercial Explosives DREV M-2241/72, Defense Research Estabhshment, Valcartier, Canada, 1972, p. 13. 

Proceedings of the Symposium on Militay Applications of Commercial Explosives, DREV M-2241/72 Defense Research Establishment, Valcartier, Can.,... 

For shock-synthesis and processing experiments, less precise systems are typically employed. These systems use commercial explosives that may be used to accelerate plates or to compress samples in the form of a tube. These systems are suitable for establishing nominal shock conditions for materials processing experiments, but are generally not suitable for careful characterization of materials response [87G02, 88M01]. 

Note 70/30 Pentryl contains 70% PETN and 30% TNT. See also under Swiss Commercial Explosives of Nonpermissible Type in Vol 3, C443-R... 

The Inorganic Chemicals Industry Commercial Explosives , US EPA Rept EPA i00/2-74-009b... 

It is strongly recommended that our procedure1 not be used to prepare guanidine nitrate. Mixtures of ammonium nitrate and organic materials not much different from the mixture in the procedure are now used extensively as commercial explosives. The aqueous mixture of Note 101 is similar to some aqueous mixtures used in sizable quantities for rock blasting a confined mixture of this sort is especially hazardous. Only a few laboratories devoted to explosives research have the barricades and remote control devices needed to run this preparation of guanidine nitrate without risk. 

Nitromethane is very likely to detonate when aluminium powder is present. The same is true for a tetranitromethane/aluminium mixture. With aromatic nitrated derivatives, and in particular commercial explosives, the mixture with aluminium does not represent any danger. However, adding a drop of water causes spontaneous ignition that takes place within a time limit depending on quantities. 

The starting point of the present British commercial explosives industry was the formation of the British Dynamite Company in 1871 by Alfred Nobel and a group of Glasgow business men. Ardeer factory in Ayrshire... 

Explosives of all types are made for commercial and military purposes in many countries throughout the world. It is, however, difficult to obtain any figures which give a worthwhile idea of the magnitude of the explosives industry. Military explosives are usually made under conditions of secrecy and no figures of output are published. Even for commercial explosives published figures are scanty and vary considerably from country to country. Data which are available are given in Table 1.1. 

The largest commercial explosives factory in the world is at Modderfontein in South Africa. 

From the days of Nobel to about 1950 the scientific basis of commercial explosives remained relatively unchanged, although continuous and numerous improvements in manufacturing methods occurred throughout the world. There were, however, many advances in military explosives, note of which will be made later. These advances were, of course, largely due to the two world wars, which occurred since the death of Alfred Nobel. There were also many advances in the development of permitted explosives designed for use in gassy coal mines. 

Commercial explosives frequently contain salts, or give other solid residues. In calculations these cause difficulties, as it is not certain whether solid ingredients reach equilibrium with the explosion products. In the calculations it is possible either to assume thermal equilibrium, or to... 

TABLE 2.4 Detonation Pressures of Commercial Explosives (3-18 cmdiam.)... 

The preparation and properties of TNT are described in Chapter 3. Next to nitroglycerine, TNT is the most important sensitising constituent of commercial explosives. For such purposes it does not need to have the high purity demanded for the military product, but otherwise the material is identical. 

Some typical compositions of commercial explosives are given in Table 5.1. 

TABLE 5.1 Compositions ofNon-permitted Commercial Explosives... 

---