Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1916-01-21
HIGH EXPLOSIVES.
Amateur Chemists Should Fight
Shy of Dabbling In Them.
SCIENCE In THEIR MAKING.
These Terribly Destructive Agents Are
the Outcome of Serious Research
Work-SmokeIess Powders and How
They Are Produced.

They Are Produced.
A word of caution to amateurs who
wish to experiment with high explo-
siyes-don't. The manufacture of high
explosives is now a highly specialized
branch of chemistry and chemical en-
cheering, and great technical knowl-
edge and experience are necessary If
one wishes to go through life whole.
Another c~aution-not one of the present
explosive compounds has been discov-
cred and made practical by an anna
teur; they are as much q growth of
scientific research as is the manufac-
ture of aniline dyes.
The bases Of the most terribly de-
structive explosives are very innocent
substances themselves and of high i'm
portance in the arts of peace. Cotton
and glycerin are the two most impor-
tant raw materials used for high ex-
plosives; next come phenols, benzol,
toluol, etc. Cotton is by far the most
important, as its nitro compounds are
the base of all smokeless powders used
in cannon and rifles and explosive
shells and torpedo heads.
SmOkeless powder is now the most
important military product of guncot-
ton and nitroglycerin. Broadly speak
ing, smokeless powder is a gelatinized
form of guncotton or guncotton and
nitroglycerin in varying proportions.
with small proportions of other sub
stances to modify its action or to stab
ilize it. The general method of max
ing each of the two types is as fol
lows: Guncotton powders are made by
dissolving a mixture of dinitro and tri-
nitrocellulose In a mixture of alcohol
and ether, working the mass until a
plastic jelly is formed and then work
ing this UP with its other ingredients
and finally pressing the mass into
threads and cylinders or cutting up
sheets of it to make small grains.
Smokeless powder for big guns and
smaller ri1ed cannon is usually made
in the form of perforated cylinders of
varying sizes by forcing the plastic
mass through dies. These cylinders are
from an eighth of an inch to an inch
in thickness and from half an inch to
two inches long, the size and number
of ~perforations varying with the size
of the gun for which intended. The
cylinders are perforated SO that the
flame from the combustion can burn
them more evenly, thus securing uni
form pressure in the gun and it's maxi
mum effect.
Smokeless powders are exploded by
direct flame, from a friction or electric
primer, the combustion being almost
instantaneous. Set afire in open air
smokeless powders burn fiercely, but
without explosion. Unless badly de-
Perforated by age and consequent
formation of excess of free acids,
smokeless powder seldom explodes by
conclusion. When excessively acid it
will explode spontaneously.
In appearance smokeless powder re-
sembles yellow or amber celluloid, has
a horny texture and can be cut with a
knife. The powder used by the United
States is a g%uncotton powder, a small
proportion of diphenylamine and cal
cium carbide being added to stabilize
it. The process and methods of manu-
facture are closely guarded secrets.
Nitroglycerin smokeless powders have
as a base both guncotton and nitro
glycerin. The g%uncotton is dissolved
in the nitroglycerin, a jelly-like mass
being formed. This is then dissolved
in acetone or a mixture of alcohol and
ether, stabilizing ingredients added and
the whole worked into a plastic mass.
This mass is then pressed into sticks or
| norfApo411 o.1 80 ~,,a. ~ f.o--
sheets by the same process as guncot-
ton powder, and the finished product is
similar in appearance.
N~itroglycerin powders have a greater
explosive force than nitrocellulose pow
ders. but have the drawback of being
unstable and irregular in action. In
fact, all smokeless powders have these
defects. The perfect smokeless pow
der is yet to be invented, and mean
while those who handle and store it
must keep a constant watch for signs
of deterioration and consequent liabil-
ity to spontaneous explosion.
The most stable and effective type of
smokeless powder is the English "cord-
ite," so called because nodded into
strips or cords of varying length and
diameter. The new type cordite is
composed of approximately Go parts of
trinitrocellulose, thirty parts of nitro
glycerin and five parts of mineral jelly
or petrolatum, acetone being used for
making the jelly and dissolving the nj
%trogelatin formed.
Originally petroleum. was added to
cordite with the idea that it would less
en- the erosion of the charge on the
rifing of the gun. Later it was discov-
cred that the petroleum. acted as an
almost perfect stabilizer by preventing
oxidation mechanically. Cordite for
merly contained a higher proportion of
pitrOU voarip hI1f thic forrn,,Io hoe ham