Tmdd

[Ethyl]

First I know that this topic was discussed before. But discussion died quickly. And as the thread is very old I didn't want to post in it.

I made TMDD from 16 ml of 36% formaldehyde solution, 27 ml of 30% H2O2, 6 g of urea and 20 ml of H2SO4 extracted from a car battery. First I dissolved urea in H2O2 and then I added formaldehyde and sulfuric acid. The mixture warmed only a little. After two days I filtered it, neutralized the remaining acid with a sodium carbonate solution and then I washed it with water. Yield is around 8-10 g.

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb248/Cigan_2007/TMDD.jpg

When I ignited it with a match it burned with a flame similar to AP and HMTD but a little faster than AP. And some white smoke was evolved. Perhaps the smoke was created because some water remained in it as I have noticed that lumps sometime go up in smoke with no flame at all. Probably they weren't dry inside.

I have read in the two old threads that it is easily dead pressed. I will try to detonate the TMDD I have and will post the results. And did anyone here recently made TMDD and tried to use it in a blasting cap?

[Tinton]

If your formaldehyde is in solution with water, wouldn't adding sulfuric acid release formaldehyde gas?

[Ethyl]

Perhaps adding enough conc. H2SO4 would but I don't know. I added only 20 ml of dilute acid. And the solution of formaldehyde has around 10% methanol to prevent the formaldehyde from polymerizing. Perhaps that has also some effect.

And today I set of that TMDD. I filled a cardboard tube with AP and then over it TMDD(AP and TMDD were not mixed). There was approximately 50% of each. It detonated nicely!! And it created a lot of smoke for a such small charge. I will make an another batch of TMDD but I will detonate it alone.

[Ethyl]

Sorry for the double post and late reply. Now that I have again obtained 30% hydrogen peroxide I am going to make TMDD again. The problem is now I don't have any H2SO4 so I am interested if HCl can be used instead? I would try it myself but my H2O2 is too valuable to be used on something that perhaps won't work. I know that HNO3 can be also used instead of sulfuric acid.

[Ethyl]

Sorry for double posting again but I cant edit the previous post.

I finally made more TMDD. It is drying now. I used 70 ml of 30% H2O2, 50 ml of 36% formaldehyde, 19 g of urea and around 40 ml of sulfuric acid extracted from a old car battery. When it gets dry I will test it more (a mix with AN, detonating pure TMDD (I read that it easily gets dead pressed, and using it for a blasting cap). I will report the results.

[Ethyl]

Unfortunately I double post again but I cant edit the previous post. What is the time limit for editing??

I am unfortunately unable to test TMDD due to problems with the police. Now all I can do is light it in small amounts to burn it. I will let a small amount stand to see how storage stable it is. And there is one thing I thing is strange. When TMDD deflagrates it creates smoke. The smoke is actually oil. When I ignite it with a match my fingers get covered in some viscous and colorless oil. Also a small amount of oil is left on the surface it burned. Does anyone know what the oil might be?

[dhemor_]

Hmm, I'm not sure what the oil could be.. Is the smoke a vapourized solid? It might give an indication of the power of this compound, as the energy given to vapourize the solid formed could take away from the overall explosive power..

I have never heard of it before, so I'm interested in this :). Now I need to find a source of urea!

[Ethyl]

The smoke is a vaporised oily liquid. You can find urea as an artificial fertilizer in hardware stores.

[dhemor_]

Oh ok. Hm, I'll check that out. I've never really seen it over here. I'm from Ireland, and if you've heard of the IRA, you'll see why explosives are on extreme crack-down.. :(
I believe that farmers can get their hands on it, but I've only heard of it coming in one tonne bags (Need to verify this; I heard from a mate who heard from a mate.. I'll get my hands on whatever it is and see what I can find out!). Also my uncle (needed it for his garden, but knows more things about explosives than the typical adult) was in a large fertilizer distributor centre, aimed at farmers, and they only had ammonium nitrate, I believe. No urea to be found :(.

[Ethyl]

Today I mixed up another TMDD batch (32 ml of 36% formaldehyde,40 ml of H2SO4 from a old car battery, 12 g of urea and 60 ml of 30% H2O2). When the TMDD is ready I will try to detonate it alone (not with AP as the last time) and do some impact sensitivity tests. But I will be able only to set off a few grams under ground in my back yard (the police found me, and now too much people, mostly tourists, are where I live). I hope it will go off (people reported it easily becomes dead pressed). After summer I will test AN/TMDD mix. It should be safer than APAN, as I believe TMDD is more stable than AP.

[simply RED]

Indeed it easily becomes dead pressed !
AN+TMDD sounds interesting ...