Tetryl melting temperature

Hexanitrostilbene or HNS (C14H6N6012) is a heat-resistant yellow crystalline solid explosive. HNS is also resistant to radiation, insensitive to electric sparks, and less sensitive to impact than tetryl. It is used in heat-resistant booster explosives and has been used in stage separations in space rockets and for seismic experiments on the moon. Its melting temperature is 316 °C.12... 

Tetryl is a pale yellow, crystalline solid with a melting temperature of 129 °C. It is moderately sensitive to initiation by friction and percussion, and is used in the form of pressed pellets as primers for explosive compositions which are less sensitive to initiation. It is slightly more sensitive than picric acid, and considerably more sensitive than TNT. Tetryl is quite toxic to handle and is now being replaced by RDX and... 

Cyclonite is more stable to heat than penthrite and at a temperature above the melting point of tetryl, e.g. at 140°C, also shows greater stability than the latter. 

The results are tabulated (Table 75) and presented in diagrammatic form (Fig. 74). There is a characteristic increase of the slope of the line of sensitiveness above the melting point of TNT. It is evident that the sensitiveness of molten TNT between 81°C and 100°C is well below that of tetryl at room temperature. 

When confined in the closed cell and subjected to the isothermal storage test performed at a F, on the high temperature side, say, near 130 C, 2 g of tetryl, the volume of which is about 2 cm, behaves certainly like a powdery chemical of the quasi-AC type in such a manner as to start the quasi-autocata lytic reaction simultaneously with the finish of melting a very short time after the start of the isothermal storage lest in accordance with Fq. (59). This manner is the same as that shown in Fig. 7 in Section 3.3. 

Nevertheless, however, it is probable, based on the total information obtained above, that tetryl will not start the quasi-autocatalytic reaction at temperatures at which it does not melt. 

Hara, Kamei and Osada 86] obtained similar results.. Among the gases from the decomposition of tetryl they also found methane. They carried out the experiments at temperatures from 150 to 175 0. By differential thermal analysis they found the endothermic (negative) peak at I31 C due to the melting of the substance and exothermic decomposition occurred at 160 C. They calculated the activation energy as being 35 kcal/mol. This is in agreement with formerly obtained results (Vol. HI, p. 53). 

The sensitivity of azides to heat is one of their properties which can be most precisely determined. The more practically useful substances, such as lead and silver azides, do not detonate until temperatures close to or at their melting points are attained. Among technologically important sohd explosives such as TNT, tetryl, and RDX, the relatively high melting points of lead and silver azides (<300°C) and the good vacuum stability in standard tests are perhaps not representative of their overall sensitivity. Once a threshold temperature has been attained in the azides, the transition from slow decomposition to detonation is... 

Tetryl, also called tetranitromethylaniline, has a melting point of about 130°C with some decomposition. It is nonhygroscopic and practically insoluble in water but highly soluble in acetone and benzene. It can be stored for over 20 years at ambient temperatures with no noticeable change in properties. 

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