Formulation of Explosives

Nitroglycerin is used to formulate explosives and is mixed with nitrocellulose as with double-base propellants. However, the mass fraction of NC is 0.06 - 0.08 for explosives and 0.3 - 0.6 for double-base propellants. Though both materials are homogeneous in their physical structures, the energy density of explosives is higher than that of double-base propellants because of the high mass fractions of NG. 

Nitroglycol (NGC) has similar physical and chemical properties to those of NG. However, the vapor pressure is too high for it to be used as a major component of propellants and explosives. Nitroglycol is used as an additive to NG to reduce the freezing point of NG and to formulate explosives. However, the shock sensitivity of NG-based explosives is much higher than that of other types. 

Additions of crystalline oxidizers such as ammonium nitrate or potassium nitrate to nitrate esters or energetic polymers form composite explosives whose physical structures are heterogeneous. In contrast to homogeneous explosives, the energy density of composite explosives is higher than that of homogeneous explosives. 

When explosives are used for warheads of gun projectiles and missiles, the acceleration force acting on the explosives is high and aerodynamic heating due to super- 

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Formation heat is a basic parameter in the thermochemical calculation, which can be calculated from combustion heat of a compound according to Hess s law. The measurement accuracy of combustion heat has reached a very high level. In the design of a new explosive, in order to know its explosion properties and thermochemical properties, its formation heat can be calculated first, which is necessary to design and decide the formulation of explosive. 

Disaster Planning. Plant managers should recogni2e the possibiHty of natural and industrial emergencies and should oversee formulation of a plan of action in case of disaster. The plan should be weU documented and be made known to all personnel critical to its implementation. Practice fire and explosion drills should be carried out to make sure that all personnel, ie, employees, visitors, constmction workers, contractors, vendors, etc, are accounted for, and that the participants know what to do in a major emergency. 

In the manufacture of explosives, sodium nitrate is used mainly in blasting agents. In slurries and emulsions, sodium nitrate improves stabiUty and sensitivity. It also improves the energy balance because sodium nitrate replaces water, so that more fuel can be added to the formulation. Sodium nitrate reduces crystal size of slurries, which in turn increases detonating speed. In dynamites sodium nitrate is used as an energy modifier. Typical content of sodium nitrate is 20—50 wt % in dynamites, 5—30 wt % in slurries, and 5—15 wt % in emulsions. Sodium nitrate is used also in permissible dynamites, a special type of dynamite for coal (qv) mining. 

Dry methylene chloride does not react with the common metals under normal conditions however, a reaction with aluminum can be initiated, sometimes explosively, by the addition of small amounts of other halogenated solvents or an aromatic solvent (7). Iron catalyzes the reaction, and this can be significant in the handling and storage of methylene chloride and in the formulation of products, eg, in aluminum aerosol containers of pigmented paints, where the conditions necessary for the reaction are commonly found. A typical reaction in this process is shown in equation 2. 

EXP AC analyzes an interconnected network of building rooms and ventilation systems. A lumped-parameter formulation is used that includes the effects of inertial and choking flow in rapid gas transienl.s. The latest version is specifically suited to calculation of the detailed effects of explosions in the far field using a parametric representation of the explosive event. A material transport capability models the effects of convection, depletion, entrainment, and filtration of... 

Dinitrobenzofuroxan dissolves slightly in water, giving an acid reaction, and forms a series of explosive - salts which were originally formulated as containing the anion (54). Acidification regenerates the dinitro compound. It has recently been shown that the anion is, in fact, the Meisenheimer-complex (55), on infrared, NMR, and chemical evidence, including the use of 0 and... 

TLC is also one of the analytical techniques that is commonly used to support evidence in courts of law. The chemistry concept for visualization is not unique since this reaction scheme, converting explosive to pink dyes, is decades old. TLC provide rapid screening capability for the presence of a broad range of explosive residues. TLC also provides a means for obtaining specificity, i.e., identifying numerous types of explosives, their concentrations, and also provides the capability to ratio the amounts of the explosives present. For example, Comp B has a mixture of RDX and TNT in its formulation, and if present in the sample the ratio would be 60 40, respectively. This ratio becomes visually apparent by the density of the spots with TLC technology (See Figure 2). 

Understanding the condensed-phase properties of HE materials is important for determining stability and performance. Information regarding HE material properties [such as the physical, chemical, and mechanical behaviors of the constituents in plastic-bonded explosive (PBX) formulations] is necessary for efficiently building the next generation of explosives as the quest for more powerful energetic materials (in terms of energy per volume) moves forward.1... 

Large quantities of explosives are used every year. In the United States, for example, the annual consumption exceeds over 2 million tonnes. Most are used for commercial purposes and are ammonium nitrate-based formulations. There are less than a dozen chemical explosives that are manufactured in bulk quantities, and most of these were discovered in the 50-year period between 1850 and 1900. New explosives have been synthesized but optimization of the formulations takes decades and is very expensive. Consequently, any new material has to offer very significant advantages, either in terms of unique performance for military applications or in terms of cost and safety for commercial applications. 

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). 

Polymeric materials are used as binders to hold sohd particles together so as to formulate composite explosives or composite propellants. The polymeric materials also constitute part of the fuel ingredients when the crystalline particles are oxidizer-rich. Various types of hydrocarbon polymers are used as polymeric binders. 

Simoes, P., Pedroso, L., Portugal, A., Carvalheira, P., and Campos, J., New Propellant Component, Part I. Study of 4,6-Dinitroamino-l,3,5-triazine-2(lH)-one (DNAM), Propellants, Explosives, Pyrotechnics, Vol. 26, 2001, pp. 273-277 Simoes, P., Pedroso, L., Portugal, A., Plaksin, I., and Campos, J., New Propellant Component, Part I. Study of a PSAN/DNAM/HTPB Based Formulation, Propellants, Explosives, Pyrotechnics,... 

The major chemical components of emulsion explosives are fundamentally the same as those of slurry explosives, as shown in Table 9.4.[i l Instead of the sensitizers used for slurry explosives, a large number of hollow microspheres made of glass or plastics are incorporated to formulate emulsion explosives in order to obtain successive detonation propagation after the initiation of detonation. During detonation propagation into the interior of the explosives, an adiabatic compression results... 

Hydrocarbon polymers (HCP) are used not only as fuel components but also as binders of crystalline oxidizers and metal powders in the formulation of pyrolants, similar to composite propellants and plastic-bonded explosives. There are many types of HCP, the physicochemical properties of which are dependent on their molecular structures. The viscosity, molecular mass, and functionality of the poly-... 

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