The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives - Sciencemadness Dot Org

306
SMOKELESS POWDER
with periods of trempage in warm water at temperatures sometimes
as high as 80°.
Powder for small arms is generally glazed with graphite, by
which treatment its attitude toward the loss and absorption of
moisture is improved, and by which also it is made electrically
conducting so that it can be blended without danger from static
FIGURE 77 Smokeless Powder Blending Tower The powder is blended
by being made to flow through troughs and bins Lots as large as 50,000
pounds of rifle powder and 125,000 pounds of cannon powder have been
blended in this tower.
electricity and loaded satisfactorily by a volumetric method. The
powder is blended in order that large lots can be made up which
will be ballistically uniform, and hence that the proof firing, the
operations of loading, and the calculations of the artilleryman
may all be either simplified m kind or reduced in amount. Powder
m short cylindrical grains, such as is used in the United States,
is particularly easy to blend, but the blending of strips, or of
long tubes or cords, is obviously difficult or impracticable. The
finished powder is stored and shipped in airtight boxes which
contain 110-150 pounds.