Manufacture Cordite

As a further step to conserve supplies of acetone-based cordite — due to its stability and uniformity of effect, the preferred choice for naval gunnery — the Research Department at the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich devised a new type of cordite for land service. This was known as cordite RDB. In place of highly nitrated insoluble guncotton, soluble nitrocellulose was substituted, and ether-alcohol was used as the solvent. This resulted in scarcity and higher prices for ether-alcohol, produced by the alcohol distilleries. Despite this, and although it was more expensive to manufacture, cordite RDB was accepted for use in May 1915, and put into production as a war emergency measure. ... 

New Explosive Co, Ltd. At Stowmarket, Engl, it was the first plant to manufacture compressed blocks of wet NC by Abel s method. These blocks were used as bursting charges in various projectiles as well as for demolition purposes. This facility also manufd Dynamites, Gelignite, Cordite, Carbonite, etc Ref Daniel (1902), 451... 

Weizmann A process for producing acetone and //-butanol by the fermentation of carbohydrates by bacteria isolated from soil or cereals. Later work has shown that effective bacteria are Clostridium acetobutylicum and Bacillus granulobacter pectinorum. Used in Britain in World War I for the manufacture of acetone, needed for the production of cordite. Subsequently operated by Commercial Solvents Corporation in Terre Haute, IN, and in two plants in Canada. Later abandoned in favor of synthetic processes. Invented by C. Weizmann in the University of Manchester in 1915, based on earlier work at the Pastern Institute by A. Fembach and E. H. Strange (hence the alternative name Fembach-Strange-Weizmann). The money that Weizmann obtained from royalties on this process was used in founding the State of Israel, of which he was the first president. 

Single base" smokeless powder, developed mainly in the United States, uses only nitrocellulose. "Double base" smokeless powder, developed in Europe, is a blend of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. "Cordite," a British development, consists of 65% NC, 30% NG, and 5% mineral jelly. The mineral jelly (a hydrocarbon material) functions as a coolant and produces substantial amounts of CO 2, CO, and H 2O gas to improve the propellant characteristics. "Triple base" smokeless powder, containing nitroguanidine as a third component with nitroglycerine and nitrocellulose is also manufactured. 

Absorption of solvent nsing water and aqneons solutions. This method, though of no value for alcohol and ether, was used for the recovery of acetone in cordite manufacture in Great Britain. Acetone was also recovered by using a solution of sodium hydrogen sulphite. 

Cordite MD is manufactured by a method very similar to that used for the manufacture of nitrocellulose powder. 

Since there was a great shortage of acetone for the manufacture of cordite in Great Britain during World War I, a solvent composed of alcohol and ether in a weight ratio of 2 3 was used. Since the nitrocellulose usually employed for the manu-... 

In principle the manufacture of cordite RDB was similar to that of ordinary cordite with the difference that instead of drying the damp nitrocellulose it was dehydrated with alcohol and the required amount of ether and additional alcohol were introduced in the kneader. The manufacture of cordite RDB was discontinued after the w3r since its ballistic properties were inferior to those of common cordite. 

Since the powder contains no volatile solvent it does not require long drying (cf. the manufacture of cordite). Drying lasts only a few hours and its purpose is solely to equalize the moisture content in the powder tubes. 

After World War I the manufacture of solventless powder was started in other countries France under the name of powder SD (sans dissolvent), Great Britain as Cordite SC (solventless cordite) and the U.S.S.R. 

Dipping of Cellulose in Tanks used in DuPont s Mechanical Dipper Process of Manufacture of Nitrocellulose is briefly described in Vol 2 of Encycl, p C102-R, under Industrial Manufacture of NC . Schematic arrangement of DuPont s Process is shown in Vol 3, p C539 (See also 1 Direct Dipping Process or Nobel s Method of Manufacture of Cordite )... 

Displacement Process (or Thomson s Method) of Manufacture of Nitrocellulose. See under CORDITE in Vol 3, p C538-L... 

In Britain, the manufacture of cordite had commenced in 1889 in the royal gunpowder factory at Waltham Abbey. The acetone, which was critical to the process, was made from the distillate collected from wood that was heated to a high temperature. The best wood for this purpose came from the forests of continental Europe, and it was therefore unavailable to the British after the start of World War i. But in 1915 a chance meeting solved this problem. C.P. Scott of The Manchester Guardian introduced David Lloyd George, the Minister of Munitions, to one Chaim Weizmann. 

It was a good idea, but it didn t work. No microbe that Weizmann tried yielded isoprene. But Clostridium aceto-butylium did convert starch into a mixture of ethanol, acetone, and butanol, a blend that did not particularly interest Weizmann. It certainly interested Lloyd George, however he heard the whole account from Weizmann himself. Here, pehaps, was a way to produce the acetone that they sorely needed for the manufacture of cordite. Weizmann was asked to scale up his experimental process, and within a short time he d converted a gin distillery into a factory to make his mixture. He easily separated the acetone through distillation, and soon mass production was under way. There was no need for butanol, and huge stocks built up. But after the war the... 

Liquid nitroglycerin is still used as an explosive to a limited extent, particularly in the blasting of oil wells, but its principal use is in the manufacture of dynamite and of the propellants, ballistite and cordite. 

Any distinction between cordite and ballistite which is based upon the methods by which the materials are manufactured is now no longer valid. Certain cordites are made without the use of a volatile solvent. Ballistites are made from soluble and from insoluble nitrocellulose, with and without the use of acetone, ethyl acetate, or other volatile solvent. Cordite is the name of the propellant which is used by the British armed forces. Ballistite, generally in flakes, sometimes in cords and in single-perforated tubes, is the preferred military powder of Italy, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries. 

This type of problem can occur, for example, in cordite manufacture, where the detectives might be sticks rejected for e.g. surface blemishes, and we are interested in whether e.g., one method of packing the press cylinder gives less rejects than another. 

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