Explosive formulation

When used in blasting, ammonium nitrate is mixed with fuel oil and sometimes sensitizers such as powdered aluminum. Lower density ammonium nitrate is preferred for explosive formulation, because it absorbs the oil more effectively. When detonated,these mixtures have an explosive power of 40 to 50% that of TNT (see Explosives and propellants). 

Chemical Reactivity - Reactivity with Water Reacts vigorously with water to form highly flammable acetylene gas which can spontaneously ignite Reactivity with Common Materials Reacts with copper and brass to form an explosive formulation Stability During Transport Stable but in absence of water Neutralizing Agents for Acids and Caustics Not pertinent Polymerization Not pertinent Inhibitor of Polymerization Not pertinent. 

Addnl Refs (limited distribution) 1) J.T. Hamrick L.C. Rose, Evaluation and Loading of New Explosive Formulations , Rept No AFATL TR -68-90, Contract F08635-68-C-0030, Aerospace Research Corp, Roanoke (1968)... 

It produces the highest theoretical detonation pressures in explosive formulations (maximal yields of fluorine and nitrogen trifluoride). 

The Michael adducts of fluorodinitromethane have attracted interest as energetic plastisizers in both propellant and explosive formulations. Such adducts are usually synthesized by mixing the Michael acceptor with fluorodinitromethane or 2-fluoro-2,2-dinitroethanol in the presence of In much the same way, 2,2,2-trinitroethanoI can be used as a source of... 

A huge number of ester and carbonate derivatives of polynitroaliphatic alcohol have been synthesized driven by the search for new explosives and energetic plasticizers and oxidizers for propellant and explosive formulations. Most of these are derived from 2-fluoro-2,2-dinitroethanol and 2,2,2-trinitroethanol ° and have excellent oxygen balances. Some examples are illustrated above (168-174) but more comprehensive lists can be found in numerous reviews. " " Direct esterification of polynitroaliphatic alcohols with nitric acid, mixed acid, or acetic anhydride-nitric acid has been used as a route to mixed polynitroaliphatic-nitrate ester explosives. ... 

Numerous aromatic nitramines have been synthesized but only A,2,4,6-tetranitro-A-methylaniline (tetryl) and l-(2-nitroxyethylnitramino)-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (pentryl) have found practical use as explosives. Both tetryl and pentryl are more powerful than TNT. Tetryl is widely used in boosters and as a component of explosive formulations like tetrytol (tetryl/TNT), PTX-1 (tetryl/RDX/TNT) and Composition C-3 (tetryl/RDX/TNT/DNT/MNT/NC). 

Nitro and amino derivatives of the furazan ring (1,2,5-oxadiazole) are nitrogen-rich energetic materials with potential use in both propellant and explosive formulations. Some... 

ANTA (114) readily forms a stable anion on reaction with bases like sodium ethoxide and this anion has been used as a nucleophile for the synthesis of many ANTA derivatives. Laval and co-workers synthesizedDANTNP (116) (calculated VOD 8120 m/s, = 1.84 g/cm, m.p. > 330 °C) from the reaction of 4,6-dichloro-5-nitropyrimidine (115) with two equivalents of ANTA (114) in the presence of sodium ethoxide. Agrawal and co-workers studied the thermal and explosive properties of both ANTA and DANTNP and suggested their use for applications in propellant/explosive formulations where insensitivity coupled with thermal stability is of prime importance. The activation energies of ANTA and DANTNP indicate that DANTNP is more thermally stable than ANTA. 

To illustrate how improvised explosives are often related to historically rejected formulations a sampling of the anarchist literature will be utilized. The small cross section examined will consist of Guerrilla s Arsenal (GA) [8], Improvised Munitions Black Book Vol. 1 (BB1) [9], Ragnar s Homemade Detonators (RHD) [10], and FMX The Revised Black Book (FMX) [11], It should be stressed that this small cross section examined represents only a fraction of the readily available information accessible through the Internet. These examples are utilized solely to show the overlap of historical explosive formulations and current terrorist recipes. More examples of current-day usage of these improvised materials will be included in the next sections of this chapter. 

CHEMICAL PRODUCTS Ammonium Nitrate special purified product for industrial chemical use, available in solution, prill, and grained form. Also high-density grained material for formulation of military explosive compositions Composition D-2 Wax a densensitizing compound containing wax, nitrocellulose, and a wetting agent used in military explosive formulations... 

Blast type warhead (with Dentex and aluminized explosive formulations) -used for damaging soft and semi-hard targets. 

Table 1.10 Explosive formulations and PBXs used in nuclear weapons.

TATB/Kel-F800 (90/10 wt.%) is best in terms of thermal stability coupled with a respectable performance [200]. Similarly, PBXs based on TATB, HMX and Kel-F800 are available, and sensitivity data on TATB/HMX-based PBXs clearly show that insensitivity rapidly decreases with increasing HMX content, even at relatively low levels of HMX. Evidently, some trade-off must be made between VOD and safety [201] (Table 2.5). Further, sensitivity and thermal test data (Table 2.6) also indicate that TATB-based formulations rank as the most insensitive explosive formulations [202]. 

CL-20 was evaluated in both propellant and explosive formulations. A large number of CL-20-based PBXs are reported in the literature. A comparison of their VOD with that of the corresponding HMX-based formulations reveals a 12-15% higher energy potential of CL-20-based formulations. CL-20 is also a superior alternative to RDX and HMX for application in low-signature rocket propellants. CL-20-based propellants offer burn-rates much higher (-35-110%) than those of HMX-based propellants. The performance of CL-20-based propellants in terms of Isp is found to be higher than those of RDX-based propellants. 

The US Air Force formulation designated as AFX 644 (based on TNT and NTO and also referred to as TNTO IV) is used for low-vulnerability General Purpose (GP) bomb. AFX-644 is a melt-cast, wax desensitized nitrotriazolone (NTO)-based explosive formulation which employs TNT as an energetic binder and aluminum powder to enhance blast performance. TNT, NTO, wax and A1 powder are mixed in proportions of 30,40,10 and 20% respectively and meets the United Nations ... 

Insensitive Munitions and Some New Insensitive Explosives/Formulations... 

Some explosive formulations based on HMX, HMX and NTO, HMX and TATB (by wt.) and binder have been studied for density, VOD, IAD (number of cards), initiation sensitivity, ignition temperature and other explosive properties. The data given in Table 2.9 and Table 2.10 show a significant decrease in sensitivity, IAD (number of cards) and initiation sensitivity of explosive formulations with an increase in the proportion of NTO as well as TATB. However, performance of the NTO-based formulation is slightly better [222]. 

It may however, be noted that these values for different parameters are influenced by purity, morphology and particle size of the sample. The calculated values of VOD for FOX-7 and RDX are 9090ms 1 and 8940 ms 1 respectively (Cheetah Thermochemical Code). Based on these results, it was concluded that FOX-7 is better than RDX which is used as a benchmark explosive for comparison with other explosives. Consequently, it is an attractive ingredient for application in high performance IM compliant explosive formulations. FOX-7 also increases the burning-rate in propellants and as a natural consequence, is of interest for high performance propellants. 

Picatinny Arsenal, in association with ATK Thiokol and others, are in the process of developing PAX Series of explosive formulations and also a series of IM melt-cast explosives. They claim that the TM-ness is accomplished by dispensing with TNT completely and using dinitroanisole (2,4-dinitroanisole, DNAN) which is a yellow crystalline substance at room temperature [218, 230] and has a m.p. of... 

C. The formulation, PAX-35, is less sensitive but of comparable performance to Composition (TNT-based melt-cast explosive formulation). Also under development are pressed and cast-cured IM PBXs and important example is PAX-3. BAE Holstan Army Ammunition Plant (HAAP), USA has developed PAX-34 which has the following ingredients... 

S. (1998) Development of high performance CL-20 explosive formulations. Proc. 29th Inti. Ann. Conf. of ICT, Karlsruhe, Germany, June... 

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