Peroxide Watergel Explosive

[Red Beret]

Peroxide Watergel Explosive, is made from hydrogen peroxide, aluminium powder (flake? I have atomised Al, will it work?), and guar gum. From my searches here, it dosen't seem to have been discussed at length.

The videos of this stuff detonating seem to portray a fairly low powered explosive. But, if these chemicals were all that a person had on hand, it could fill a gap. Maybe for special applications too, or simply as a novelty.

Does anyone have any experience with this explosive? Can the guar gum be substituted with dextrin or starch? Guar is a pain in the arse to get here. Maybe with a little adjusting, cornflour would work.

Also, initiation sensitivity? I'm assuming it's not all that sensitive, but I do recall someone saying they used 1.5g of ETN. Anyone with experience with this, feel free to add.

I think it's mainly the novelty of a watergel thats easy to make that has drawn me to it. I mean, ANNM is just as easy to whip up, more powerful, and probably easier to initiate. Science madness had a discussion on this but the board seems to be down.

The Science madness thread; Peroxide Watergel (http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=3214)

[Rbick]

Yes, guar gum can be replaced with any substance to bond the mixture, as Al and Hydrogen Peroxide don't gell very well. The gum itself has nothing to do with the explosive reaction.

What happens is the O2 is the hydrogen peroxide lends Oxygen to the Aluminum, oxidizing it. This results in Al2O3 and H2 gas. The remaining water (some of it, not all) also undergoes the same reaction. Any water that didn't lend its oxygen would turn into steam.

3H2O + 2Al ---> 3H2 + Al2O3

So the water and hydrogen peroxide is actually the oxidizing agent.

Atomized Al will work fine, and higher conc. hydrogen peroxide is preferred, although 35% will work as well, just adjust the amounts for the reaction. The mixture is not very sensitive and does require a significant cap to initiate. I had a 50g charge that failed to detonate with 1.5g ETN and .5g AP! :o I'm not sure if this was due to insensitivity or to something else that was wrong, although I couldn't imagine what it was...

[panzerkampfwagen]

I think that if you added some ammonium perchlorate to the mixture the reaction would be much faster and more explosive. If you could make it powerful enough, a rather insensitive liquid explosive could be rather helpful, if only for some cruel practical jokes.