Nitroguanidine explosive power

Secondary explosives (also known as high explosives) are different from primary explosives in that they cannot be detonated readily by heat or shock and are generally more powerful. Secondary explosives can be initiated to detonation only by a shock produced by the explosion of a primary explosive. Widely used secondary explosives include trinitrotoluene (TNT), tetryl, picric acid, nitrocellulose, nitroglycerine, nitroguanidine, cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine (RDX), cyclotetramethylenetetranit-... 

Attention has been paid to nitroguanidine as an explosive since Vieille [28] found that the gases from the decomposition of nitroguanidine are less erosive than those from the decomposition of other explosives of comparable power (Table 4). 

Vieille expressed the opinion that nitroguanidine is less erosive than other explosives of the same power due to its low temperature of explosion. On the basis of experiments with a manometric bomb Patart [55] calculated the following data for nitroguanidine as an explosive ... 

Nitroguanidine may be regarded as an explosive which is powerful, but difficult to detonate. This accounts for the considerable fall in the rate of detonation under increased density of loading. The diameter of loading also exerts a great influence on the rate of detonation, behaviour which is also characteristic of explosives which detonate with difficulty. An explosive of density 0.95 in a pipe of 20 mm inner diameter gave a rate of detonation of 4340 m/sec. 

Urbanski, Kapuscinski and Wojciechowski [41] showed that nitrourea is a more powerful explosive than nitroguanidine. Its lead block expansion is 310 cm3. 

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