Explosion pressure components

Primary high explosive, Extremely pressure/impact sensitive Low explosive. Main component in smokeless powders, lED filler... 

In general, an explosion is an exothermic chemical reaction between two components. A well-known example is the reaction between the oxygen content of the atmospheric air and a combustible substance like petrol. As an exception, there are very few substances - such as acetylene - which are thermodynamically unstable and tend to exothermic self-decomposition. An explosion can start only with an ignition source and a volume or mass ratio of the two components in such a manner that the reaction zone is sustained by itself. Typical values of the peak explosion pressure - when starting with components at atmospheric pressure in a constant volume - are 1 MPa (10 bar) and a propagation velocity of the reaction zone up to 102m/ s (as an order of magnitude). 

Typical events that are considered are fire, explosion, ship collision, and the failure of pressurized storage vessels for which historical data established the failure frequencies. Assessment of consequences was based partly on conservative treatment of past experience. For example ilic assessment of the number of casualties from the release of a toxic material was based on past histoiy conditioned by knowledge of the toxicology and the prevailing weather conditions. An altemati. e used fault trees to estimate probabilities and identify the consequences. Credit is taken in this process for preventative measures in design, operation, and maintenance procedures. Historical data provide reliability expected from plant components and humans. 

An alternative source of the ethyl component was ethyl bromide, a less expensive material. It was at this point that GM called upon DuPont to take over process development. DuPont was the largest U.S. chemical company at the time. It had extensive experience in the scale-up of complex chemical operations, including explosives and high-pressure synthesis. The manufacturing process was undertaken by DuPont s premier department, the Organic Chemical section. GM contracted with DuPont to build a 1,300 pound per day plant. The first commercial quantities of TEL were sold in Februai-y 1923 in the form of ethyl premium gasoline. 

The heat of decomposition (238.4 kJ/mol, 3.92 kJ/g) has been calculated to give an adiabatic product temperature of 2150°C accompanied by a 24-fold pressure increase in a closed vessel [9], Dining research into the Friedel-Crafts acylation reaction of aromatic compounds (components unspecified) in nitrobenzene as solvent, it was decided to use nitromethane in place of nitrobenzene because of the lower toxicity of the former. However, because of the lower boiling point of nitromethane (101°C, against 210°C for nitrobenzene), the reactions were run in an autoclave so that the same maximum reaction temperature of 155°C could be used, but at a maximum pressure of 10 bar. The reaction mixture was heated to 150°C and maintained there for 10 minutes, when a rapidly accelerating increase in temperature was noticed, and at 160°C the lid of the autoclave was blown off as decomposition accelerated to explosion [10], Impurities present in the commercial solvent are listed, and a recommended purification procedure is described [11]. The thermal decomposition of nitromethane under supercritical conditions has been studied [12], The effects of very high pressure and of temperature on the physical properties, chemical reactivity and thermal decomposition of nitromethane have been studied, and a mechanism for the bimolecular decomposition (to ammonium formate and water) identified [13], Solid nitromethane apparently has different susceptibility to detonation according to the orientation of the crystal, a theoretical model is advanced [14], Nitromethane actually finds employment as an explosive [15],... 

Heating a mixture of the components in an autoclave at 240-260°C/7.6 bar to produce diphenylamine led to a violent explosion, following a sudden increase in pressure to 17 bar. The equipment and process had been used previously and uneventfully. 

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