Primary Explosives
Primary explosives are materials that detonate and are extremely sensitive to heat and shock. These materials are often used as initiating charges for main charge explosives. Primary explosives have less explosive power than the main charge explosives.
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Lead Azide |
| Color:
White , Gray
Uses: Detonators, priming compositions Rate of Detonation: 13,400 to 17,000 feet per second Lead azide is a crystalline, cream-colored compound which is practically insoluble in water. When lead azide is stored in water, however, care must be taken to assure that the water is free of bacteria-forming impurities which may react with the dextrinated lead azide to form a gas. Lead azide shall not be exposed to copper, zinc, or metal alloys because of the possible formation of other, more sensitive azides. Lead Azide has a high temperature of ignition and is less sensitive to shock and friction than mercury fulminate. It is also less brisant than mercury fulminate. Lead Azide has been adopted as the detonator of major caliber base detonating fuses, point detonating fuses, and of auxiliary detonating fuses. It is also used in priming mixtures. |
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Lead Styphnate |
| Color:
White , Gray
Uses: Priming compositions Rate of Detonation: 17,100 Feet per second There are two forms of lead styphnate: six-sided monohydrate crystals and small rectangular crystals. Lead styphnate varies in color from yellow to brown. Lead styphnate is particularly sensitive to fire and the discharge of static electricity. When dry, it can be readily detonated by static discharges from the human body. The longer and narrower the crystals, the more susceptible lead styphnate is to static electricity. Lead styphnate does not react with metals and is less sensitive to shock and friction than mercury fulminate or lead azide. Lead styphnate is only slightly soluble in water and methyl alcohol and may be neutralized by a sodium carbonate solution. It is used as a component in primer and detonator mixtures. It is stable in storage, even at elevated temperatures. |
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Mercury Fulminate |
| Color:
White , Gray
Uses: Priming compositions Rate of Detonation: 11,500 to 21,100 feet per second Mercury fulminate is white when pure but ordinarily, it has a faint brownish yellow or gray tint. It is a heavy, practically non-hygroscopic, crystalline solid. When dry, mercury fulminate is very sensitive to heat, friction, spark, flame, and shock. The sensitivity is so great that accidents, especially during manufacturing, are numerous. The precautions given for lead azide shall be used when using mercury fulminate. Whether it is wet or dry, mercury fulminate shall not be permitted to come into contact with materials such as aluminum, magnesium, zinc, copper, brass, or bronze. |
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Tetracene |
| Color:
Pale Yellow
Uses: Detonators, priming compositions Rate of Detonation: Less than 13,100 feet per second Tetracene is a colorless or pale yellow material. It is soluble in strong hydrochloric acid but practically insoluble in alcohol, water, benzene, ether, and carbon tetrachloride. Tetracene is only slightly hygroscopic. It explodes readily from flame, producing a large volume of black smoke. Tetracene is slightly more sensitive to impact than mercury fulminate and is more brisant when initiated by tetryl or mercury fulminate than when self initiated by fire. It can become easily dead-pressed; i.e., its sensitivity can be reduced or destroyed by a significant increase in density. |
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Det Cord |
| Color:
Colored fuse, red ,green etc.
Uses: Det cord is used as a primary explosive, detonating secondary explosives in series or in unison Rate of Detonation: 21,000 Feet per second Detonating cord (detonating fuse) resembles safety fuse but contains a high explosive instead of black powder. Detonating cord has many applications in blasting. Any number of holes can be connected with it in just about any desired pattern. Attached to the blasting charge and knotted to a trunk line, it is fired by means of either a fuse-type or electric blasting cap. Sequential shooting may be obtained by cutting the trunk lines and inserting delay connectors, which have delay periods ranging from about 5 to 25 milliseconds. Det cord may also be used for apllied entry explosives and in the hands of a skilled user , can cut trees in half. |
High Explosives
High Explosives are materials which have detonation as the primary explosive mechanism. Detonation involves a reaction propagating through the material, usually in the form of a shock wave, at speeds greater than that of sound. Unlike burning, which can only travel as fast as the flame front can move through the material, high explosives are decomposed almost instantaneously by a supersonic shock wave passing through the material. This instantaneous destruction of all the molecules in the sample is called a detonation, and the rapid expansion of hot gases that results is what causes the destructive blast. Detonations are believed to be decomposition reactions. High explosives are broken into three classes according to their sensitivity. Main charges are materials that detonate but are relatively insensitive to heat and shock. These materials are the most powerful explosives.
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C-4 |
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Color: White to light brown Uses: Plastic demolition explosive Rate of Detonation: 26,400 feet per second Composition - 4 is a plastic demolition explosive consisting of RDX, other explosives, and plasticizers. It can be molded by hand for use in demolition work and packed by hand into shaped charge devices. Two common types of C-4 are the M112 and M118 charges. The M112 block demolition charge consists of 1.25-pounds of Composition C4 packed in a Mylar-film container with a pressure-sensitive adhesive tape on one surface. The tape is protected by a peelable paper cover. In blocks of recent manufacture, Composition C4 is white and packed in an olive-drab, Mylar-film container. The M118 block demolition charge is designed as a cutting charge especially to be used against steel targets. The sheets of explosive can be quickly applied to irregular and curved surfaces and easily cut to any desired dimensions. The M180 Cratering Demolition Kit is a one-step, two-stage, surface-emplaced, 110-pound kit consisting of a standard 15-pound shaped charge, a firing device and a rocket-propelled 40-pound cratering charge. These components are mounted on one leg of a tripod assembly. When the kit is fired, the rocket on its downward acceleration strikes the firing device, which initiates the shaped charge through the demolition circuit. The shaped charge creates a hole in the ground to a depth of 6-9 feet. The accelerating rocket "follows through" the shaped charge back blast to the bottom of the hole, and penetrates further into the soil to an optimum charge burial depth. A time delay fuse detonates the cratering charge and produces a 12-22 foot diameter crater (But my Haven is under 7 feet of concrete! Yeah, big fucking deal fangboy, enjoy your new skylight) |
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Cyclotol |
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Color: Buff to yellow to brown Uses: Fragmentation bombs, projectiles Rate of Detonation: 25,900 to 26,400 feet per second Cyclotol is manufactured in three formulations by varying mixture percentages of RDX and TNT. Cyclotols are used for loading shaped-charge bombs, special fragmentation projectiles, and grenades. |
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Nitroglycerin |
Color: Clear to amber Uses: Demolition, ingredient in dynamite Rate of Detonation: 4,900 to 25,400 feet per second Also called Glyceryl Trinitrate, a powerful explosive and an important ingredient of most forms of dynamite. It is also used with nitrocellulose in some propellants, especially for rockets and missiles, and it is employed as a vasodilator in the easing of cardiac pain. Pure nitroglycerin is a colorless, oily, somewhat toxic liquid having a sweet, burning taste. It was first prepared in 1846 by the Italian chemist Ascanio Sobrero by adding glycerol to a mixture of concentrated nitric and sulfuric acids. The hazards involved in preparing large quantities of nitroglycerin have been greatly reduced by widespread adoption of continuous nitration processes. The safe use of nitroglycerin as a blasting explosive became possible after the Swedish chemist Alfred B. Nobel developed dynamite in the 1860s by combining liquid nitroglycerin with an inert porous material such as charcoal or diatomaceous earth. Nitroglycerin plasticizes collodion (a form of nitrocellulose) to form blasting gelatin, a very powerful explosive. Nobel's discovery of this action led to the development of ballistite, the first double-base propellant and a precursor of cordite. |
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Octol |
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Color: Buff Uses: Projectile and bomb filler Rate of Detonation: 27,500 to 28,300 feet per second Octol is the current explosive of choice for many warhead applications, the most widely used being the 75/25 ratio of HMX and TNT. Although Octol has desirable characteristics, it reacts violently during insensitive munitions tests such as the bullet impact, slow cookoff, and fast cookoff tests |
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Cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine (RDX) |
| Color:
White but may be dyed
Uses: Detonation cord, blasting caps Rate of Detonation: 27,000 feet per second RDX, also known as cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine, is perhaps the ultimate non-nuclear explosive, pound for pound. It is made by the nitration of hexamethylenetetramine in the usual manner with nitric acid. No other acids are needed. It detonates at 27,000 feet per second, the highest rate of all common explosives. RDX has many uses in war and improvised munitions, ranging from boosting a blasting cap to handle ANFO to anti-tank shaped charges. RDX is about 50% more powerful than TNT on a pound-for-pound basis, thus making it particularly valuable for jobs where minimum charge weight or volume is desirable. It also produces much more heat then nitroglycerin or TNT, making it the filler of choice for dust explosion imitating charges. |
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Trinitrotoluene (TNT) |
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Color: Light yellow to brown to light gray Uses: Bombs, projectiles, demolition Rate of Detonation: 21,800 to 22,400 feet per second Trinitrotoluene, commonly known as TNT, is a constituent of many explosives, such as amatol, pentolite, tetrytol, torpex, tritonal, picratol, ednatol, and composition B. It has been used under such names as Triton, Trotyl, Trilite, Trinol, and Tritolo. In a refined form, TNT is one of the most stable of high explosives and can be stored over long periods of time. It is relatively insensitive to blows or friction. It is nonhygroscopic and does not form sensitive compounds with metals, but it is readily acted upon by alkalis to form unstable compounds that are very sensitive to heat and impact. TNT may exude an oily brown liquid. The exudate is flammable and may contain particles of TNT. Pools of exudate should be carefully removed. |
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Dynamite |
Color: Varies Uses: Demolition Rate of Detonation: Varies An industrial explosive containing nitroglycerin and absorbent materials such as kieselghur (porous, chalky earth), wood pulp, or starch. Patented in 1867 by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, dynamite is less volatile and safer to handle than pure nitroglycerin. The proportions vary in different kinds of dynamite; often ammonium nitrate or sodium nitrate is added. The mass is usually pressed in cylindrical forms and wrapped in an appropriate material, e.g., paper or plastic. There are hundreds of formulas for dynamite and there is no set standard for detonation speed, color, or size. Dynamite with nitroglycerin as an ingredient is becoming rare. Nitroglycerin dynamite will crystallize after a long period of storage. A sudden temperature difference of 3 degrees can cause these crystals to detonate without warning. |