The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives - Sciencemadness Dot Org

298 SMOKELESS POWDER
own right, and a nitrocellulose powder which contains one of
them might, it would seem, be designated with propriety as a
double-base powder. This, however, is not in accordance with
prevailing usage. The name of double-base powder is reserved
for such powders as ballistite and cordite which contain nitrocellulose
and nitroglycerin (or perhaps some substitute for nitroglycerin
such as nitroglycol). Double-base powders are made both
with and without volatile solvent, and are also capable of being
modified in all of the ways in which a single base powder may
be modified. We have, therefore, colloided powder of various
kinds, as follows.
I. Nitrocellulose powder without nitroglycerin
a. with volatile solvent,
b. with non-explosive non-volatile solvent,
c. with explosive non-volatile solvent,
d. with non-explosive non-volatile non-solvent,
e. with explosive non-volatile non-solvent.
II. Nitrocellulose powder with nitroglycerin
o. with volatile solvent,
b. with non-explosive non-volatile solvent,
c. with explosive non-volatile solvent,
d. with non-explosive non-volatile non-solvent,
e. with explosive non-volatile non-solvent.
III. Coated and laminated powders the grains of which are
non-homogeneous combinations of the powders above classified.
This classification is offered, not in any belief that it clarifies a
matter which is otherwise difficult to understand, but because it
directs attention to the various possibilities and displays their
relationships to one another. Some of the possibilities correspond
to powders which are or have been used in this country or in
Europe, and which are sufficiently described for our present purpose
if they are mentioned specifically. Others will be discussed
at greater length in the sections, below, which are concerned with
the absorption of moisture, with gelatinizing agents, and with
flashless charges and flashless powder. All the possibilities are
actually exploited, though not always separately.
Cordite MD, it may be noted, is a double base powder made
with volatile solvent and containing a non-volatile, non-explosive
non-solvent, namely mineral jelly, and is classified in class II a d,