Detonating ANAL, ANNM with Flashpowder...

[flashpoint]

Well I've been doing some reading on here, and searching might I add, and have yet to see if its possible to detonate ANNM, with Flash powder. Or APAL for that matter...so my question is, is it possible, and have have any of you done it? :cool:

I'll probably be using 40:40:20, AN:NM:H2SO4, or 60:40 ANNM BTW when I try this.

[Rbick]

Flashpoint-

I actually posted on this about 4 months agohere. (http://www.roguesci.org/theforum/showthread.php?t=5715) I attempted to detonated a 50g charge containing 12% AP and 88% AN with 3g of flash powder. The detonation failed, and that was with APAN, which is more sensitive than ANNM. The thing with flash powder is...

3 KClO4 + 8 Al ----> 4 Al2O3+ 3 KCl

Take a look at the equation. All the of the by products are solids. The definition of an explosive is a rapid decomposition of material into gases, or at least that is part of it. Flash is also not considered an explosive (unless you're dealing with the dolts at CPSC) due to its low detonation velocity. These two factors put together, being no gas production and a relativley low VoD, offer an insufficient shockwave to the seconday explosive, making flash unsuitable for a primary explosive. So no, Flash will probably not detonate ANNM. Its hard to detonate a 50g charge with even 1g of well pressed AP, whereas you can detonate 50g of APAN with as little as .2g (in my experience). So 3g of flash failed where .2g of AP had no problem. Don't waste your time and money with flash, unless you're making fireworks.

Also...
I'll probably be using 40:40:20, AN:NM:H2SO4, or 60:40 ANNM BTW when I try this

To balance out the equation properly, the maximum amount of NM to mix with AN is 33%. This mix is also somewhat insensitive unless you have a powerful detonator or booster, so flash will NEVER work. I usually mix my ANNM in 25% NM and 75% AN. And from what I've seen, H2SO4 doesn't make a difference when added to the mixture. I could be wrong on that however, I havn't tested with H2SO4 extensively.

What the hell is APAL? Acetone Peroxide and Aluminum? If thats what it is, I recall seeing a post on it a while back, it is somewhere in the forum, so use the search engine. It seems odd since Al needs oxygen to burn and AP is oxygen deficient. Would the Al get the oxygen from the air maybe? This may be able to be detonated by flash, but then again why even use a "blasting cap" if the charge is mostly AP? Just use a fuse...

I see you've been here a while, but your post is kind of short and has already been covered. I hope you don't get kicked, but just for the future, I would be more careful :o

[flashpoint]

I did search btw, and yeah the post was short and simple, sorry NBK :) I was just ordering chemicals when I was typing.

Guess I'll stick to the AP dets, I'm just really nervous with pressing AP.

[Rbick]

Yeah I hear you. One method I've seen is wetting the AP with high conc. alcohol and pressing it while it is wet. Once it is pressed, it is allowed to dry for 24-48 hours and then used. This desensitizes it for pressing and since it is alcohol, it will dry quickly. When pressing, you should never have intimate contact with the cap. I always wear saftey glasses, thick gloves, and use long plyers to press AP so I'm never actually touching the cap. Some people even use barriers between them and the charge.

While transporting these caps, never place them into the charge until you are on site and carry them from the fuse or by some other means than holding them directly with the hand. If at all possible, use something less sensitive than AP, like HMTD. Its just as easy to make. Good luck :)

EDIT: I like in your subject how you put ANAL :D . I think its usually referred to as Ammonal for that reason, just so you know...

[flashpoint]

lol yeah i know when I wrote that, I thought about it, and then I was like fuck...haha

Well I wonder about using Acetone to wet the AP slightly rather than alcohol...hrmm I know it will dissolve some, and probably form a larger crystal AP in the cap, I know larger crystals are more sensitive to shock and friction...so that would be an 'iffy' situation for me. I'll see what I can do Rbick.

Thanks Rbick by the way, I read your APAN post, like how you got into activating the AN, I think when I made APAN and didn't get a detonation, it was because I didn't get it dry enough and ground up fine enough.