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Explosives
Published in Michael L. Madigan, First Responders Handbook, 2017
The above compositions may describe most of the explosive material, but a practical explosive will often include small percentages of other substances. For example, dynamite is a mixture of highly sensitive nitroglycerin with sawdust, powdered silica, or most commonly, diatomaceous earth, which act as stabilizers. Plastics and polymers may be added to bind powders of explosive compounds; waxes may be incorporated to make them safer to handle; aluminum powder may be introduced to increase total energy and blast effects. Explosive compounds are also often “alloyed”: HMX or RDX powders may be mixed (typically by melt-casting) with TNT to form Octol or Cyclotol.
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Published in Michael L. Madigan, HAZMAT Guide for First Responders, 2017
The above compositions may describe most of the explosive material, but a practical explosive will often include small percentages of other substances. For example, dynamite is a mixture of highly sensitive nitroglycerin with sawdust, powdered silica, or most commonly diatomaceous earth, which act as stabilizers. Plastics and polymers may be added to bind powders of explosive compounds; waxes may be incorporated to make them safer to handle; and aluminum powder may be introduced to increase total energy and blast effects. Explosive compounds are also often “alloyed”: HMX or RDX powders may be mixed (typically by melt casting) with TNT to form Octol or Cyclotol.
Modeling Dissolution of High Explosive Formulations
Published in Soil and Sediment Contamination: An International Journal, 2018
Three formulations involving multiple HE components were tested, which included Comp B, Octol, and IMX-101. A different recommendation for initial particle size input was made for each, which included the Comp B particle size, the HMX crystal particle size for HMX and the Octol particle size for TNT within Octol, and the component mass-weighted particle size for IMX-101. It is hypothesized that RDX and TNT dissolution in Comp B occurs more like a unit than as individual components, whereas the dissolution of TNT and HMX in Octol occurs more like individual components. The RDX crystal size within Comp B is approximately 0.1 mm, whereas the HMX crystal size within Octol is approximately 1.0 mm, or an order of magnitude larger than RDX. Additionally, the solubility of RDX and TNT are closer than that of HMX and TNT. It is possible that the much smaller RDX crystals (with high specific surface area) with higher solubility (than HMX) respond more as part of the TNT matrix than as separate particles, thus requiring the use of the Comp B particle size and solubility. The much larger HMX crystals and low solubility of HMX in Octol require using different particle sizes and solubility for HMX and TNT dissolution. The TNT matrix of Comp B and Octol has a higher solubility than the crystals within the matrix. The size of the NTO and NQ crystals within IMX-101 is between the RDX and HMX crystal sizes for Comp B and Octol, and the DNAN matrix has a much lower solubility than the crystals within the matrix. This different matrix-crystal-solubility aspect of IMX-101 could be the reason that the use of a component mass-weighted particle size with component solubility values provided the best dissolution results.