Special Purpose lead azide

Special Fidrpose Lead Azide(SPLA) [(3 (Vol. 2, p. 44)]. The Special Purpose lead azide was introduced in the U.S.A. It is of a greater sensitivity and lower... 

It could be concluded that the reaction at 30°C or 35°C produced a better product than that from reaction at 25°C. (See also Special Purpose lead azide. Section C.7.b, below). 

In the 100-liter working capacity duPont kettle the following procedure was used for making a 7.7-kg batch of Special Purpose lead azide ... 

The specifications for Special Purpose lead azide given in U. S. military specification MIL-L-14758 are the same as those for RD1333 lead azide except that the detonator test and other minor requirements are dropped. 

Of over one million pounds of Special Purpose lead azide produced, approximately half was not consumed but stockpiled. Later this stockpile material was tested for compliance with the RD 1333 specification and was found to be suitable. After other tests, not covered in the specification and described elsewhere in this volume, the use of Special Purpose lead azide was authorized in place of RD 1333 lead azide in the United States. Since there is such a large stockpile of Special Purpose lead azide, all U.S. CMC-type lead azide needs for several decades could be supplied by this material if it could be preserved for this length of time. The most interesting point brought forward here is that certain process parameters can be varied seemingly without affecting product quality. Others, such as CMC type, have to be held constant to maintain quality. Unfortunately, without empirical studies as conducted by Taylor et al. and Hopper, the knowledge to predict which parameters are critical is not available. 

The only known in situ study [39] of material stored in bulk was conducted on Special Purpose lead azide (Chapter 1), as described in more detail in Section D.4, below. In addition, dextrinated lead azide that had been in storage for 25 years and had been repackaged was tested for suspected sensitivity changes. However, the sensitivity was found to be almost identical to that of a flesh preparation that was tested concurrently [38]. 

A. C. Forsyth, J. R. Smith, D. S. Downs, H. D. Fair, The Effects of Long Term Storage on Special Purpose Lead Azide, Tech. Rept. No. 4357, Picatinny Arsenal, Dover, N.J., 1972. 

Figure 16. Impact sensitivity of special purpose lead azide effect of drying and humidity [40] Picatinny Arsenal apparatus 2-kg weight dropped at indicated heights 20 samples per data point.

Figure 17. Impact sensitivity of vacuum-dried. Special Purpose lead azide [40] Picatirmy Arsenal apparatus weights dropped at indicated heights, 20 samples per data point.

Dry mixtures of Special Purpose lead azide and RDX had impact sensitivities intermediate between those of the ingredients. At azide concentrations above about 10 wt %, the impact sensitivity was essentially that of pure lead azide. If the same mixtures were flooded with a volatile halocarbon (Freon TF), compositions of <25% PbNe were desensitized but compositions of >25% PbN,. were more sensitive than dry mixtures (Figure 18). 

Decompn of alpha LA] 5) H.W. Voight Jr F.H. Schmitt, PATM 1673 (1965) (Low-impulse LA film to be used in applications calling for light-initiated plane wave explosives) 6) Spec, Lead Azide (Special Purpose, For Use in Ammunition) , MIL-L-14758 (10 May i968) 7) Anon, Lead Azide RD-1333 ,... 

Of the many types of lead azide—pure or basic, dextrinated, colloidal. Service, polyvinyl alcohol. Special Purpose, RD1333, RD1343, RD1352, and dextrinated colloidal—the types which have been used for military or commercial... 

---