Pyrotechnic mixture granulation

US specifications and analytical procedures for technical grade dextrin are given in MIL-D-3994(1957). It covers corn dextrin used in pyrotechnic mixtures Requirements Granulation - not less than... 

A mixture known as black powder revolutionized the art of warfare whenever it was applied to the propulsion of missiles. Black powder is a mixture of potassium nitrate (saltpeter), charcoal, and sulfur in varying proportions, granulation, and purity. A typical composition of a modern black powder is saltpeter 75%, charcoal 15%, and sulfur 10%.7 A mixture of saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur with other ingredients was used in China and India in the eleventh century for incendiary and pyrotechnic purposes long before true black powder was invented.8 History often deals in conjecture and opinion and it is not known for certain when and by whom black powder was invented, or when and by whom it was applied to the propulsion of a missile from a firearm. The composition of black powder was first recorded by English Franciscan monk Roger Bacon in 1249, but he did not apply it to the propulsion of a missile from a firearm. This use of black powder is usually credited to a German Franciscan monk Berthold Schwartz in the early fourteenth century.9... 

Potassium nitrate is described in MIL-P-156B for one purity and three granulations. Aside from use in black powder and some starter mixtures, its main pyrotechnic application is as the oxidizer in boron/ potassium nitrate pellets. In the latter, a very fine granulation, l0 5/ ... 

Source L. M. Aikman et ah, Improved Mixing, Granulation, and Drying of Highly Energetic Pyro-Mixtures Propellants, Explosives, Pyrotechnics, 12,17,1987. 

---