Use forms of explosives
Encyclopedia
Explosive material
Explosive material
An explosive material, also called an explosive, is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure...

s are produced in numerous physical forms for their use in mining, engineering, or military applications. The different physical forms and fabrication methods are grouped together in several Use forms of explosives.

Explosives are sometimes used in their pure forms, but most common applications transform or modify them.

These use forms are commonly categorized as:
  • Pressings
  • Castings
  • Plastic or polymer bonded
    Polymer-bonded explosive
    A polymer-bonded explosive, also called PBX or plastic-bonded explosive, is an explosive material in which explosive powder is bound together in a matrix using small quantities of a synthetic polymer...

  • Putties (aka Plastic explosives)
  • Rubberized
  • Extrudable
  • Binary
  • Blasting agents
  • Slurries and gels
  • Dynamites

Castings

Castings, or castable explosives, are explosive materials or mixtures in which at least one component can be safely melted at a temperature which is safe to handle the other components, and which are normally produced by casting or pouring the molten mixture or material into a form or use container.

In modern usage, Trinitrotoluene or TNT is the basic meltable explosive used in essentially all castable explosives.

Other ingredients found in modern castable explosives include:
  • Active, energetic or explosive ingredients:
    • Aluminum powder
    • Ammonium nitrate
    • Ammonium picrate
    • Barium nitrate
      Barium nitrate
      Barium nitrate with chemical formula Ba2 is a salt of barium and the nitrate ion.Barium nitrate exists as a white solid at room temperature. It is soluble in water, and like other soluble barium compounds, is toxic and should be handled with care...

    • EDNA
      Edna
      -People:*Edna , a feminine given name-Places:In the United States*Edna Bay, Alaska*Edna, California*Edna Valley AVA, American Viticultural Area in California*Edna Township, Cass County, Iowa*Edna, Kansas*Edna Township, Otter Tail County, Minnesota...

    • HMX
      HMX
      HMX, also called octogen, is a powerful and relatively insensitive nitroamine high explosive, chemically related to RDX. Like RDX, the name has been variously listed as High Melting eXplosive, Her Majesty's eXplosive, High-velocity Military eXplosive, or High-Molecular-weight rdX.The molecular...

    • Lead nitrate
    • PETN
      PETN
      Pentaerythritol tetranitrate , also known as PENT, PENTA, TEN, corpent, penthrite , is the nitrate ester of pentaerythritol. Penta refers to the five carbon atoms of the neopentane skeleton.PETN is most well known as an explosive...

    • Sodium picrate
    • RDX
      RDX
      RDX, an initialism for Research Department Explosive, is an explosive nitroamine widely used in military and industrial applications. It was developed as an explosive which was more powerful than TNT, and it saw wide use in WWII. RDX is also known as cyclonite, hexogen , and T4...

    • Tetryl
      Tetryl
      2,4,6-Trinitrophenylmethylnitramine commonly referred to as tetryl is a sensitive explosive compound used to make detonators and explosive booster charges....

  • Inert ingredients
    • Boric acid
      Boric acid
      Boric acid, also called hydrogen borate or boracic acid or orthoboric acid or acidum boricum, is a weak acid of boron often used as an antiseptic, insecticide, flame retardant, as a neutron absorber, and as a precursor of other chemical compounds. It exists in the form of colorless crystals or a...

    • Calcium chloride
      Calcium chloride
      Calcium chloride, CaCl2, is a salt of calcium and chlorine. It behaves as a typical ionic halide, and is solid at room temperature. Common applications include brine for refrigeration plants, ice and dust control on roads, and desiccation...

    • Wax
      Wax
      thumb|right|[[Cetyl palmitate]], a typical wax ester.Wax refers to a class of chemical compounds that are plastic near ambient temperatures. Characteristically, they melt above 45 °C to give a low viscosity liquid. Waxes are insoluble in water but soluble in organic, nonpolar solvents...

    • Silica, often in the form of silica fume
      Silica fume
      Silica fume, also known as microsilica, is a fine-grain, thin, and very high surface area silica.It is sometimes confused with fumed silica and colloidal silica...

       (Cab-o-sil for example)


Common castable explosives include:
  • Amatol
    Amatol
    Amatol is a highly explosive material made from a mixture of TNT and ammonium nitrate. Its name originates from the words ammonium and toluene...

  • Baratol
  • Boracitol
  • Composition B
    Composition B
    Composition B, colloquially "comp B", is an explosive consisting of castable mixtures of RDX and TNT. It is used as the main explosive filling in artillery projectiles, rockets, land mines, hand grenades, sticky bombs and various other munitions...

  • Cyclotol
    Cyclotol
    Cyclotol is an explosive consisting of castable mixtures of RDX and TNT.It is related to the more common Composition B, which is roughly 60% RDX and 40% TNT; various compositions of Cyclotol contain from 65% to 80% RDX....

  • Octol
    Octol
    Octol is a melt-castable, high explosive mixture consisting of HMX and TNT in different weight proportions.-Composition:Two formulations are commonly used:* 70% HMX & 30% TNT* 75% HMX & 25% TNT...

  • Pentolite
    Pentolite
    Pentolite is a high explosive used for military and civilian purposes e.g. warheads and booster charges.Military pentolite comprises a mixture of 50% PETN and 50% TNT. A 50:50 mixture has a density of 1.65 g/cm3 and a detonation velocity of 7400 m/s. Civilian pentolite sometimes contains a lower...

  • Plumbatol
  • Tritonal
    Tritonal
    Tritonal is a mixture of 80% TNT and 20% aluminium powder, used in several types of ordnance such as air-dropped bombs. The aluminium improves the total heat output and hence impulse of the TNT - the length of time during which the blast wave is positive...

  • Torpex
    Torpex
    Torpex is a secondary explosive 50% more powerful than TNT by mass. Torpex is composed of 42% RDX, 40% TNT and 18% powdered aluminium. It was used in the Second World War from late 1942. The name is short for Torpedo Explosive', having been originally developed for use in torpedoes...


Polymer bonded

Polymer-bonded explosives, also known as Plastic-bonded explosives or simply PBX, are a relatively solid and inflexible explosive form containing a powdered explosive material and a polymer (plastic) binder. These are usually carefully mixed, often with a very thin coating of the polymer onto the powder grains of the explosive material, and then hot pressed to form dense solid blocks of PBX material.

There are numerous PBX explosives, mostly based on RDX
RDX
RDX, an initialism for Research Department Explosive, is an explosive nitroamine widely used in military and industrial applications. It was developed as an explosive which was more powerful than TNT, and it saw wide use in WWII. RDX is also known as cyclonite, hexogen , and T4...

, HMX
HMX
HMX, also called octogen, is a powerful and relatively insensitive nitroamine high explosive, chemically related to RDX. Like RDX, the name has been variously listed as High Melting eXplosive, Her Majesty's eXplosive, High-velocity Military eXplosive, or High-Molecular-weight rdX.The molecular...

, or TATB
TATB
TATB, or triaminotrinitrobenzene, is an aromatic explosive, based on the basic six-carbon benzene ring structure with three nitro functional groups and three amine groups attached, alternating around the ring....

 explosive materials. An extensive but by no means complete list of PBX materials is in the main Polymer-bonded explosive
Polymer-bonded explosive
A polymer-bonded explosive, also called PBX or plastic-bonded explosive, is an explosive material in which explosive powder is bound together in a matrix using small quantities of a synthetic polymer...

 article. The major naming systems for PBX use:
  • LX-# (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
    Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
    The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , just outside Livermore, California, is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center founded by the University of California in 1952...

     developed PBXes)
  • PBX #### (Los Alamos National Laboratory
    Los Alamos National Laboratory
    Los Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...

     developed PBXes)
  • PBXN-# (United States Navy
    United States Navy
    The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

     developed PBXes)


LX numbers range from 1 to 17. PBX system numbers start around 9000 and use numerous scattered numbers between there and 9700.

Some commonly known PBXes are:
  • LX-17
  • PBX-9502
  • PBX-9404
  • LX-11
  • LX-14
    LX-14
    LX-14 and LX-14-0 are Polymer-bonded explosives developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and used in Nuclear weapons in the United States.- Ingredients :...



PBXes are notable for their use in modern Nuclear weapons. Modern US and British nuclear warheads nearly all use insensitive
Insensitive munitions
Insensitive munitions are munitions that are chemically stable enough to withstand mechanical shocks, fire, and impact by shrapnel, but that can still explode as intended to destroy their targets.-Description:...

 PBX types using only TATB
TATB
TATB, or triaminotrinitrobenzene, is an aromatic explosive, based on the basic six-carbon benzene ring structure with three nitro functional groups and three amine groups attached, alternating around the ring....

 explosive, to increase safety in case of accidents.

Putties, aka Plastic explosives

Technically known as putties, but more commonly plastic explosives, these mixtures are a thick, flexible, moldable solid material that can be shaped and will retain that shape after forming, much like clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...

. Putties normally contain mostly RDX
RDX
RDX, an initialism for Research Department Explosive, is an explosive nitroamine widely used in military and industrial applications. It was developed as an explosive which was more powerful than TNT, and it saw wide use in WWII. RDX is also known as cyclonite, hexogen , and T4...

 explosive, but may include some PETN
PETN
Pentaerythritol tetranitrate , also known as PENT, PENTA, TEN, corpent, penthrite , is the nitrate ester of pentaerythritol. Penta refers to the five carbon atoms of the neopentane skeleton.PETN is most well known as an explosive...

 (Semtex, for example).

Some common putties are:
  • C-4 (explosive)
    C-4 (explosive)
    C4 or Composition C4 is a common variety of the plastic explosive known as Composition C.-Composition and manufacture:C4 is made up of explosives, plastic binder, plasticizer and usually marker or odorizing taggant chemicals such as 2,3-dimethyl-2,3-dinitrobutane to help detect the explosive and...

  • (Now-obsolete) Composition C
    Composition C
    The Composition C family is a family of related US-specified plastic explosives consisting primarily of RDX. All can be moulded by hand for use in demolition work and packed by hand into shaped charge devices. Variants have different proportions and plasticisers and include C-2, C-3, and C-4.The...

  • Semtex
    Semtex
    Semtex is a general-purpose plastic explosive containing RDX and PETN. It is used in commercial blasting, demolition, and in certain military applications. Semtex became notoriously popular with terrorists because it was, until recently, extremely difficult to detect, as in the case of Pan Am...

  • PE-4

Rubberized

Rubberized explosives are flat sheets of solid but flexible material, a mixture of a powdered explosive (commonly RDX
RDX
RDX, an initialism for Research Department Explosive, is an explosive nitroamine widely used in military and industrial applications. It was developed as an explosive which was more powerful than TNT, and it saw wide use in WWII. RDX is also known as cyclonite, hexogen , and T4...

 or PETN
PETN
Pentaerythritol tetranitrate , also known as PENT, PENTA, TEN, corpent, penthrite , is the nitrate ester of pentaerythritol. Penta refers to the five carbon atoms of the neopentane skeleton.PETN is most well known as an explosive...

) and a synthetic or natural rubber compound. Rubberized sheet explosives are commonly used for explosive welding
Explosion welding
Explosion welding is a solid state process where welding is accomplished by accelerating one of the components at extremely high velocity through the use of chemical explosives. This process is most commonly utilized to clad carbon steel plate with a thin layer of corrosion resistant material...

 and for various other industrial and military applications. Rubberized explosives can be cut to specific shape, bent around solid surfaces, glued or taped in place, or simply laid on relatively flat surfaces.

Some common rubberized explosives include:
  • Detasheet
    Detasheet
    Detasheet is a flexible rubberized explosive, somewhat similar to plastic explosives, originally manufactured by DuPont. Its ingredients are PETN with nitrocellulose and a binder.- Properties :...

    - a now-obsolete DuPont
    DuPont
    E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009...

     product
    • Deta Flex - a DuPont military version of Detasheet
    • LX-02-1 - a DuPont Deta Flex variant used by the US Department of Energy nuclear weapons programs
  • Primasheet
    Primasheet
    Primasheet is a rubberized sheet explosive material similar to Detasheet. Manufactured by Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense Company Primasheet comes in two varieties: Primasheet 1000 is PETN based and Primasheet 2000 is RDX based...

    - current Ensign-Bickford
    Ensign-Bickford Company
    The Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense Company was started in 1836 in Simsbury, Connecticut as a manufacturer of William Bickford's safety fuse for use in mining. Safety fuse was a great advance in mining technology over the practice of filling holes with black powder. The next step in mining...

     product line
    • Primasheet 1000 - Primasheet 1000 using PETN
      PETN
      Pentaerythritol tetranitrate , also known as PENT, PENTA, TEN, corpent, penthrite , is the nitrate ester of pentaerythritol. Penta refers to the five carbon atoms of the neopentane skeleton.PETN is most well known as an explosive...

    • Primasheet 2000 - Primasheet 2000 using RDX
      RDX
      RDX, an initialism for Research Department Explosive, is an explosive nitroamine widely used in military and industrial applications. It was developed as an explosive which was more powerful than TNT, and it saw wide use in WWII. RDX is also known as cyclonite, hexogen , and T4...


Extrudable

Extrudable explosives are an extremely viscous liquid, similar in properties to silicone
Silicone
Silicones are inert, synthetic compounds with a variety of forms and uses. Typically heat-resistant and rubber-like, they are used in sealants, adhesives, lubricants, medical applications , cookware, and insulation....

 based caulking materials used in construction. It is used in similar ways - stored in a container, then extruded out a nozzle into thin cracks, holes, or along surfaces.

Some extrudable explosives can then be hardened using a heat curing process. Others will remain a viscous fluid permanently.

Common extrudable explosives include:
  • Setting extrudables
    • LX-13
    • XTX-8003
    • XTX-8004
  • Non-setting extrudables
    • Demex-400

Binary

Binary explosives are cap-sensitive (detonatable with a standard #8 blasting cap
Blasting cap
A blasting cap is a small sensitive primary explosive device generally used to detonate a larger, more powerful and less sensitive secondary explosive such as TNT, dynamite, or plastic explosive....

) two-part explosives mixtures, shipped separately and combined at the use site.

Many of these mixtures are based on Ammonium nitrate as an oxidizer plus a volatile fuel, but unlike ANFO
ANFO
ANFO is a widely used bulk industrial explosive mixture. It consists of 94 percent porous prilled ammonium nitrate , that acts as the oxidizing agent and absorbent for the fuel — six percent Number 2 Fuel Oil...

 (ammonium nitrate fuel oil explosive) these binaries can be detonated by blasting caps. ANFO requires high explosive boosters to detonate it.

Most binary explosives are a slurry after mixing, but some form a fluid with solid components dissolved into liquid ones.

Some common binary explosives include:
  • Kinestik
  • Kinepouch
  • Kinepak
  • Boulder-Busters
  • Marine Pac
  • ASTRO-PAK


The historical but now uncommon Astrolite
Astrolite
Astrolite is the trade name of a family of explosives, invented by chemist Gerald Hurst in the 1960s during his employment with the Atlas Powder Company. The Astrolite family consists of two compounds, Astrolite G and Astrolite A. Both are two-part liquid-state high explosive mixtures, composed of...

 explosive is also a binary explosive.

This category is somewhat unusual in that a single explosives researcher, Gerald Hurst, was responsible for inventing and developing most of the explosive mixtures now in use.

Blasting agents

Blasting agents are explosive materials or mixtures which are not detonatable by standard #8 blasting cap
Blasting cap
A blasting cap is a small sensitive primary explosive device generally used to detonate a larger, more powerful and less sensitive secondary explosive such as TNT, dynamite, or plastic explosive....

s.

The best known blasting agent is ANFO
ANFO
ANFO is a widely used bulk industrial explosive mixture. It consists of 94 percent porous prilled ammonium nitrate , that acts as the oxidizing agent and absorbent for the fuel — six percent Number 2 Fuel Oil...

 explosive, a mixture containing primarily ammonium nitrate with a small quantity (typically around 6%) of fuel oil, most commonly diesel fuel. Other fuels and additives are used as well.

While ANFO is often made on-site using fertilizer grade ammonium nitrate, blasting agents can also be purchased in prepackaged form, usually in metal or cardboard cylinders. Some brand names of packaged blasting agents include:
  • Nitramon
  • Nitramite
  • Pellite
  • Carbomite
  • Vibronite
  • Dynatex
  • Hydratol
  • Anoil
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