2.4.6- trinitrotoluene mixtures with other explosives

Ammonium nitrate is used in explosives, and many commercial and military explosives contain ammonium nitrate as the major explosive ingredient. Ammonium nitrate is difficult to detonate, but, when sensitized with oil or mixed with other explosive materials, it can be detonated with a large booster-primer. Amatol is a mixture of trinitrotoluene (TNT) and granular ammonium nitrate and is a major conventional military explosive. The explosive ANFO is a mixture of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil. 

At the former extreme are the so-called secondary explosives, such as trinitrotoluene (TNT), cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine (RDX) and its eightmembered analog (HMX), ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3), and mixtures of these with each other or with other fuels, solids, or liquids. At the other extreme are the primary explosives, which include a range or organic and inorganic solids, such as fulminates, styphnates, and azides, and which are able to convert and... 

Explosive, Blasting Type B Substances consisting of (a) a mixture of ammonium nitrate or other inorganic nitrates with an explosive such as trinitrotoluene, with or without other substances such as wood-meal and aluminium powder, or (b) a mixture of ammonium nitrate or other inorganic nitrates with other combustible substances which are not explosive ingredients. Such explosives shall not contain nitroglycerin, similar liquid organic nitrates, or chlorates. UN App. B, ICAO A2, lATA App. A... 

Two other derivatives of toluene are the important explosive trinitrotoluene (TNT) and the polyurethane monomer toluene diisocyanate (TDI). TNT requires complete nitration of toluene. TDI is derived from a mixture of dinitrotoluenes (usually 80% o,p and 20% o,o) by reduction to the diamine and reaction with phosgene to the diisocyanate. TDI is made into flexible foam polyurethanes for cushioning in furniture (35%), transportation (25%), carpet underlay (20%), and bedding (10%). A small amount is used in polyurethane coatings, rigid foams, and elastomers. 

The element carbon (symbol C) is almost always found in nature covalently bonded to other carbon atoms or to a variety of other elements (most commonly H, O, and N). Due to the presence of carbon-containing compounds in all living things, the chemistry of carbon compounds is known as organic chemistry. Most high explosives are organic compounds. TNT (trinitrotoluene), for example, consists of C, H, N, and O atoms, with a molecular formula of C yH 5N P e. We will encounter other organic compounds in our study of fuels and binders in pyrotechnic mixtures. 

Fig. 5. Solvating gas chromatography (SGC) separation of a standard explosive mixture. Injected amounts 0.33 pg nitroglycerine (NG), 3.3 pg all others. Peaks (1) nitroglycerine, (2) 2,6-dinitrotolene, (3) 2,4-dinitrotoluene, (4) 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, (5) pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN). Reprinted from Bowerbank et al. [48], Copyright (2000), with permission from Elsevier.

This explosive is remarkably stable to shock, and it requires a powerful detonator to initiate the explosion. In the explosives industry, precise control of temperature, mixing time, concentrations, heating and cooling rates, and so on is maintained. Making these materials safely requires sophisticated equipment and technology to carry out the process, even though the chemistry may appear simple. Under other conditions, some 2,3,5-trinitrotoluene, 3,5,6-trinitrotoluene, and 2,4,5-trinitrotoluene are produced and they are decidedly less stable than 2,4,6-TNT. A mixture of explosives is only as stable as its least stable component Without the sophisticated equipment and the knowledge that comes from specialized experience, no one should work with these materials. 

Liquid trinitrotoluene is a mixture of isomeric trinitrotoluenes with some dinitrocoluene which forms a by product in the purification of trinitrotoluene by crystallisation or centrifuging. It has a limited use in commercial explosives. Its melting point and other properties are very indefinite ... 

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