Phosphorus filled munitions, white

White phosphorus filled munitions are a major item in the current Army demilitarization inventory. Ammunition Equipment Office engineers are developing methods to punch a sized hole into the white phosphorus filled munition to control the rate at which burning occurs when the munition is processed through the deactivation furnace. By controlling the burning rate, the... 

A third screening smoke-type is white phosphoms [7723-14-0] (WP), P (see Phosphorus and THE phosphides), which reacts spontaneously with air and water vapor to produce a dense cloud of phosphoms pentoxide [1314-56-3]. An effective screen is obtained as the P2O5 hydrolyzes to form droplets of dilute phosphoric acid aerosol. WP produces smoke in great quantity, but it has certain disadvantages. Because WP has such a high heat of combustion, the smoke it produces from bulk-filled munitions has a tendency to rise in pillarlike mass. This behavior too often nullifies the screening effect, particularly in stiU air. Also, WP is very brittle, and the exploding munitions in which it is used break it into very small particles that bum rapidly. 

This paper describes the development of a system and facilities for safe, efficient, and accurate filling of white phosphorus (UP) munitions. This new development replaces dip-fill operations used by the U.S. Army for over thirty years, a production method that was hazardous to operating personnel and generated unacceptable quantities of phosphorus contaminated water and gas. The new development, Volumetric Filling, is relatively pollution free and exceeds the U.S. Army s standards for filling of white phosphorus munitions. 

Since World War II, Pine Bluff Arsenal has produced millions of white phosphorus (WP) munitions for the United States Department of o Defense. White phosphorus has a specific gravity of 1.728 at 145 F (the temperature that is normally used for WP filling operations) and melts at 111.4 F it ignites spontaneously in atmospheric air and generates a dense white 6moke, phosphorus pentoxide (P Oc). 

Accuracy, volumetric filling of white phosphorus munitions, 171,173-174/ Air, ionized—See Ionized air Air blast waves, description, 3 Air locks... 

The Pine Bluff Arsenal white phosphorus volumetric filling system (U.S. Patents 4,002,268, 11 January 1976, and 4,043,490, dated 23 August 1977) was conceived and developed by Pine Bluff Arsenal in 1973 and has been used in filling UP munitions since early 1974. 

WP/F is manufactured in the Pine Bluff Arsenal in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Molten white phosphorus stored under water is loaded in munitions shells either by the dip-fill or dry-fill methods (Berkowitz et al. 1981). In the dip-fill method, the shell canisters containing the felt wedges are passed through tubs of molten phosphorus under water. In the dry fill method, molten phosphorus is added directly to the canister under an inert atmosphere. The latter method greatly reduces phosphorus waste (phossy water) and environmental contamination (Spanggord et al. 1983). 

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