Nitrocellulose nitration

Nitrocellulose Nitrocellulose Nitrocellulose Nitrocellulose Nitrated cellulose. Gun cotton, CeUulosetrinitrate Nitrated cellulose. Gun cotton, CeUulosetrinitrate Nitrated ceUulose, Gun cotton, CeUulosetrinitrate Nitrated ceUulose, Gun cotton, CeUulosetrinitrate... 

Cellulose nitrated with nitric add vapour or by means of HN034-N205 mixtures demonstrates a significantly higher stability than nitrocellulose nitrated in a mixture of nitric and sulphuric add. This provides further evidence that the presence of sulphuric esters in nitrocellulose is responsible for its low stability. 

Absorption of nitric acid by cellulose and nitrocellulose Nitration with mixtures of nitric and sulphuric acids... 

Solid rockets carboxy- or hydroxy-terminated polybutadienes, ammonium perchlorate, ammonium nitrate, HMX, RDX, polysulphides, nitrocellulose, nitrate esters, nitramines, waxes, asphalts, oils, and resins. 

Nitrocellulose Nitrated cotton 1.5 180 6.3 4.3 765 10-36 20 Smokeless, grain size... 

BRO Brooks, R.L. and Lawrence, A.R., Polymer-diluent interactions of some nitrocellulose-nitrate ester systems, J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 9,707,1965. 

Dry nitrocellulose, which bums rapidly and furiously, may detonate if present in large quantities or if confined. Nitrocellulose is a dangerous material to handle in the dry state because of sensitivity to friction, static electricity, impact, and heat. Nitrocellulose is always shipped wet with water or alcohol. The higher the nitrogen content the more sensitive it tends to be. Even nitrocellulose having 40% water detonates if confined and sufftcientiy activated. AH large-scale processes use nitric—sulfuric acid mixtures for nitration (127—132). 

Ma.nufa.cture. The batch nitration processes for nitrocellulose have included the pot process, the centrifugal process, the Thompson displacement process, and the mechanical dipper process. Semicontinuous nitration processes are also widely used for military and industrial grades. 

The two procedures primarily used for continuous nitration are the semicontinuous method developed by Bofors-Nobel Chematur of Sweden and the continuous method of Hercules Powder Co. in the United States. The latter process, which uses a multiple cascade system for nitration and a continuous wringing operation, increases safety, reduces the personnel involved, provides a substantial reduction in pollutants, and increases the uniformity of the product. The cellulose is automatically and continuously fed into the first of a series of pots at a controlled rate. It falls into the slurry of acid and nitrocellulose and is submerged immediately by a turbine-type agitator. The acid is deflvered to the pots from tanks at a rate controlled by appropriate instmmentation based on the desired acid to cellulose ratio. The slurry flows successively by gravity from the first to the last of the nitration vessels through under- and overflow weirs to ensure adequate retention time during nitration. The overflow from the last pot is fully nitrated cellulose. 

Black Powder. Black powder is mainly used as an igniter for nitrocellulose gun propellant, and to some extent in safety blasting fuse, delay fuses, and in firecrackers. Potassium nitrate black powder (74 wt %, 15.6 wt % carbon, 10.4 wt % sulfur) is used for military appHcations. The slower-burning, less cosdy, and more hygroscopic sodium nitrate black powder (71.0 wt %, 16.5 wt % carbon, 12.5 wt % sulfur) is used industrially. The reaction products of black powder are complex (Table 12) and change with the conditions of initia tion, confinement, and density. The reported thermochemical and performance characteristics vary greatly and depend on the source of material, its physical form, and the method of determination. Typical values are Hsted in Table 13. 

The first successhil attempt to make textile fibers from plant cellulose can be traced to George Audemars (1). In 1855 he dissolved the nitrated form of cellulose in ether and alcohol and discovered that fibers were formed as the dope was drawn into the air. These soft strong nitrocellulose fibers could be woven into fabrics but had a serious drawback they were explosive, nitrated cellulose being the basis of gun-cotton (see Cellulose esters, inorganic esters). 

Sir Joseph Swan, as a result of his quest for carbon fiber for lamp filaments (2), learned how to denitrate nitrocellulose using ammonium sulfide. In 1885 he exhibited the first textiles made from this new artificial sHk, but with carbon fiber being his main theme he failed to foUow up on the textile possibihties. Meanwhile Count Hilaire de Chardoimet (3) was researching the nitrocellulose route and had perfected his first fibers and textiles in time for the Paris Exhibition in 1889. There he got the necessary financial backing for the first Chardoimet silk factory in Besancon in 1890. His process involved treating mulberry leaves with nitric and sulfuric acids to form cellulose nitrate which could be dissolved in ether and alcohol. This collodion solution could be extmded through holes in a spinneret into warm air where solvent evaporation led to the formation of soHd cellulose nitrate filaments. 

Alcohols and glycerols are nitrated by esterification ia a mixture of concentrated nitric and sulfuric acids. This reaction is of importance ia the production of nitroglycerin from glycerol and nitrocellulose from cellulose. 

K. Eabel, Nitrocellulose Enke Vedag, Stuttgart, Germany, 1950 E. D. Miles, Cellulose Nitrate OHver Boyd, London, UK, 1955. 

It will be observed from Table 22.1 that industrial cellulose nitrates or nitrocellulose (as they are often erroneously called) have a degree of substitution somewhere between 1.9 and 2.7 and that materials with lower degrees of substitution are used for plastics applications. 

Nitrat, n. nitrate, -atze,/. (Dy iVi ) nitrate discharge. -beize,/. (Dyeing) nitrate mordant. Nitration,/, nitration. — n. nitrate ion. Nitrat-kunstseide, -seide, /. nitrocellulose rayon, nitrate rayon, nitratreduzierend, a. nitrate-reducing. 

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