RDX casting

Straight RDX was used in some detonators, detonating fuzes and boosters (promezhutoch-nyye detonary), and RDX phlegmatized with wax was used for filling some small caliber projectiles. A more extensive use of RDX was in mixts with other expls, such as TNT (to make RDX cast-able), and with Al, AN, etc. In admixtures with TNT and Tetryl it was used in RDX/TNT/Tetryl - 71.9/16.4/11.7% for filling 76,2mm APHE shells. Its admixture with Al and a binder (such... 

The five second explosion temperature test value, 260°C, is the same as that of RDX. Cast torpex is much more sensitive to initiation than cast TNT and pressed torpex is as sensitive as RDX to initiation by mercury fulminate. 

The RDX particle size distribution must be carefully controlled to produce castable slurries of RDX and TNT having acceptable viscosity. Several classes of RDX are produced to satisfy requirements for the various pressed and cast RDX-based compositions. A continuous process for medium-scale production of RDX has been developed by Biazzi based on the Woolwich process (79,151—154). 

A linear relationship between Chapman-Jouguet pressure and density was confirmed for Cyclotol and Octol (Ref 28). Despite the near-equal performance of RDX and HMX at equal densities there appears to be no economical way of making the density of RDX equal to the cast density of HMX. Dinitrobenzene (DNB) has been evaluated as an economical or emergency substitute for TNT but charges prepared with DNB gave somewhat poorer performance than... 

P.A." Explosives. A variety of expl blends, patented by the firm of Bombrini-Parodi-Delfmo of Rome, consisting of PETN desensitized with pentaerythritol acetate. These expls can be cast below 100°, are less sensitive to shock than PETN, but more sensitive than TNT. Although they are less powerful and brisant than PETN, they are more so than TNT. Their stability is less than that of TNT. Their advantage in comparison with RDX formulations lies in the uniformity of the blend... 

Pentolites are castable expl mixts containing PETN and TNT. The most commonly used blend consists of 50/50 PETN/TNT, but other blends such as 75/25, 40/60, 30/70 and 10/90 have been occasionally employed. Molten TNT dissolves appreciable amounts of PETN as shown in Fig 1. The eutectic in the TNT-PETN system occurs at 76.7° for a 87/13 TNT/PETN mixt. Because correspondingly more PETN than RDX dissolves in TNT, the viscosity of Pentolites at casting temperatures is less than that of comparable Cyclotols (RDX/TNT blends)... 

PTX-1. An expl developed at PicArsn during WWII for use in land mines and demolition charges. It contained Tetryl 50, RDX 30 and TNT 20% mw 252 OB to CO -9%, to C02 —45% mp, eutectic 67°, pouring temp 90—95° d (cast) 1.68g/cc exudes at 65° and above sol in acet. Prepd by adding the appropriate wt of w-wet RDX to 40/60 Tetrytol previously melted in a steam-jacketed melt kettle. Heating and stirring are continued until all the w is evapd and the mixt is uniform in compn. It can also be prepd by adding Tetryl to Composition B Blast. Relative to TNT in air impulse 109%,... 

Many other devices for use by hand have been invented. Mention may be made of limpet charges which usually employ magnets to make them adhere to the metal sides of tanks or ships. The explosive filling for such charges is a high velocity high power explosive such as cast RDX/TNT. 

The penetrating power of a shaped charge is approximately proportional to the cube of its diameter, but also very dependent on maintenance of exact axial symmetry during construction. It is also proportional to the detonation pressure of the explosive used, so that suitable fillings are cast Pentolite or RDX/TNT. Well-known applications of shaped charges are in the British PIAT and American bazooka. 

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