Ammoniumnitrate, NC and Al

[Kekule]

I had the idea of first kneading powdered
aluminium into nitrocellulose and combining
this mixture with NH4N03. In order to increase the sensitivenes of the mix i thought of mixing it with a sufficient amount of acetone to form a knead-like mixture and then pressing it through a syringe. This would form a long and thin roll of the mixture, which could be cut into small granules(The idea behind that is, that this would give a higher particel surface, which would result into a higher sinsitivines[compare to cast TNT and flake TNT]).

Has anyone an idea how much TCAP has to be used to initate this mixture?

[kingspaz]

good idea. however granulating will increase sensitivity because of a decrease in density not an increase in surface area. the surface are will make no differance as the explosive will detonate and not burn like black powder does. increase surface area only increases burn rate of low explosives.

[wantsomfet]

A syringe won't work, i tried a very similar mixture some weeks ago. Just pour it onto a flat surface & powder it while drying. If the acetone evaporates you can easily form a more or less fine powder with gloved hands.

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[Kekule]

In an description i found on th internet was mentioned that the detonation starts at the surfaces of the high explosive particles. This would explain the greater sensitiviness ,as i mentioned before, of the flake TNT compared to the cast TNT. I assume this would also be an explanation for the greater sensitiviness of metalpowder streched explosivies as they were used by the german army during the second World War
(named 'Amonale' or 'Füllung 15', to list only two)

To wantsomefet: Have you sucessfull detonated your mixturure? If so, what was the amount of primary explosive you used and what was the nitrogen percentage of th nitrocellulose?

[wantsomfet]

No, i didn't detonated the mix, it was just a try... The NC was smokeless powder.

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[cutefix]

There are also other reasons Kekule,one is
the presence of voids in the explosive is one of the causes of explosive sensitivity.Flake TNT which has loose structure has more of this void spaces than cast TNT.If you will notice there are explosives that require gas voids like microballons in commercial emulsion explosives;in its absence the explosive will not set off.The rough edges of aluminum particles in some explosives will also be sites for the formation of these spaces.This will be the site that will be subjected to adiabatic compression through shock, causing superheating and violent vibration of the explosive molecules resulting in ,the initiation of the explosive to detonation.I think all high explosives need these minute spaces for proper initiation to detonation.A cast PBX is a dense material but if looked through a microscope there are still the presence of this miniscule spaces.It is even proven that lighter density explosives are easier to initiate than the more dense explosives.Therefore Cast TNT needs more booster charge than flake TNT inorder to set it off.