The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives - Sciencemadness Dot Org

326 SMOKELESS POWDER
pure) or argols which is a by-product of the wine industry. The
flat, circular, cotton bags containing the argols were assembled
along with the smokeless powder and black powder igniter in silk
cartridge bags to make up the complete charge. Since the antiflash
material tended to reduce the ballistic effect of the charge,
it was necessary when firing flashless rounds to add an appoint
or additional quantity of smokeless powder. Thus, for ordinary
firing of the 155-mm. gun, the charge consisted of 10 kilograms
of poudre BM7 along with an igniter system containing a total of
115 grams of black powder. For a flashless round, 3 sachets containing
500 grams of argols each were used and an additional
305 grams of smokeless powder to restore the ballistics to normal.
Another method of securing flashlessness was by the use of
pellets (pastilles) of a compressed intimate mixture of 4 parts of
potassium nitrate and 1 part of crystalline DNT. Pellets for use
in the 155-mm. gun weighed 1 gram each, and were about 2 mm.
thick and 15 mm. in diameter. Two or three hundred of these
were sewed up in a silk bag which was loaded into the gun along
with the bag containing the powder. The pellets burned with the
same' velocity as poudre B, and had but very little effect upon
the ballistics. They of course produced a certain amount of smoke
and the discharge gave a red glow from the muzzle of the gun.
Oxanilide functions well as an anti-flash agent if it is distributed
throughout the powder charge, but not if it is loaded
into the gun in separate bags like the materials which have just
been mentioned. It is made into a thick paste with glue solution,
the paste is extruded in the form of little worms or pellets, and
these are dried. Pellets to the amount of 15% of the powder
charge produce flashlessness in the 6-inch gun, but the charge is
more difficult to light than ordinarily and requires a special
igniter.
Oxanilide and many other carbonaceous materials, incorporated
in the grains of colloided powder, yield powders which are
flashless in guns of the smaller calibers and, in many cases, are
as powerful, weight for weight, as powders which contain none of
the inert, or at least non-explosive, ingredients. If nitrocellulose
burning in the gun produces 1 mol of carbon dioxide and a certain
amount of other gaseous products, then nitrocellulose plus
1 mol of carbon under the same conditions will produce 2 mols of