OP-2 (thickener). OP-2 (ОП-2), or Ionov's salt, indicated on the package as Н. А., is a chemical substance used as a thickener. The main component of OP-2 gel is gasoline. On the cardboard or cardboard packaging of the OP-2, the inscription "H.A." refers to its unit component, aluminum naphthenate. Due to the same orders as the initials of its name, OP-2 was, for a long time, interpreted as being the opalm, a "hybrid" swiss thickener.

Effect 
Contact with the lit material causes deep burns, due to the retarding effect of the thickener on the fuel and due to the greater thermal conduction given by the salt. It is an incendiary agent with anti-personnel and limited anti-material effect. It is used as a defoliant to deprive enemy personnel of cover and camouflage.

Use 

The use of the OP-2 is identical to that of napalm, being used extensively by any projector of incendiary material. The employment concentration is identical to that of napalm.

Precursor used to obtain incendiary weapons, it is the standard flame fuel thickener of the soviet union. It was first employed by the soviet union during the early part of world war II to prepare flamethrower fuel (ROKS-3 and LPO-50), molotov cocktail, general incendiary weaponry. It continues to be employed by the Russian army. For example, it is used to prepare the AP-10, which fills the ZB-500 incendiary shell. The OP-2 was supplied to states aligned with the soviet union.

Composition 
The principle of a viscous incendiary weapon was first realized in the early Middle Ages in the form of Greek fire. In modern times, the first tests were carried out during the first world war in the form of solidified oil (SO), developed by CWS. Gasoline and rubber mixtures were tested post-war and during the early stages of WWII. Rubber shortages, caused by the territorial expansion of imperial Japan, forced it to be replaced by synthetic materials.

During the early stages of the WWII, A. P. Ionov and Piotr Alexandrovich Rehbinder, in 1938-1940, specialized aluminum naphthenate to be inserted into fuels in order to thicken them.

After Pearl Harbor, the CWS began hiring personal to investigate a natural rubber substitute in the US. The end result of the investigation was an aluminum soap that specialized in thickening fine fuels.

OP-2 is an aluminum salt of petroleum acid derivatives. The OP-2 and gasoline solution behaves like an unconventional fluid. Its non-stoichiometric formula is (RCOO)1.5Al(OH)1.5.

Preparation 
OP-2 is prepared under specifications, these are relatively less closed than napalm. Due the use of naphthenic acid as the unitary component, the reaction conditions are closed. Ionov investigated a series of thickeners based on naphthenic acid. The thickener obtained a satisfactory degree of thickening and stability when it was precipitated into a strongly alkaline aqueous medium.

OP-2 is prepared under a caustic excess of 100% to prevent sintering of the amorphous solid and undesirable chemical reactions. The general chemical reaction equation can be given as:

6 OH- + 6 RCOO- + 4 Al+^3 -> 3 (RCOO)2AlOH + Al(OH)3

See also 

 Laghman massacre

References

Works cited 

 A, N, Ardashev. (2009). Зажигательное и огнеметное оружие. ISBN 978-5-699-33627-2
 Управление Начальника Химических Войск Сухопутных Войск Вооруженных Сил Ссср. Ранцевый огнемет РОКС-3 (1946) - Материальная Часть И Курс Огнеметания. ПОСОБИЕ ДЛЯ ОФИЦЕРСКОГО СОСТАВА. Moscow -1946.

External links 

Incendiary weapons
Soaps
Thickening agents
World War II weapons
Soviet inventions
Vietnam War