The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives - Sciencemadness Dot Org

452 PRIMARY EXPLOSIVES, DETONATORS, AXD PRIMERS
more effective than mercury fulminate as an initiator of detonation.
Taylor and Rinkenbach, working with 0.4-grani portions of
the high explosives and with varying weights'of the primary
explosives, compressed in detonatur capsules under a pressure of
1000 pounds per square inch, found the minimum charges necessary
to produce detonation to be as indicated in the following
table.
MINIMUM INITIATING CHARGE
(GRAMS) OF
HIGH EXPLOSIVE
Trinitrotoluene
Picric acid .
Tetryl
Ammonium picrate
Tetranitroaniline
Guanidine picrate
Trinitroresorcinol
Hexanitrodiphenylamine
Trimtrobenzaldehyde .
Fulminate
with
Reenforcing
Cap
0.26
021
0 24
0.8-0.9
020
0.30
020
Hexamethylenetriperoxidediamine
With Without
ReenforcReenforcing Cap ing Cap
0.08 0.10
0.05 0.06
0 05 0 06
0 30 0.30
0.05 0.05
0.13 0.15
0.08 0.10
0.05 0.05
0.08 0.10
Taylor and Rinkenbach found that 0.05-gram portions of hexamethylenetriperoxidediamine,
pressed in No. 8 detonator capsules
under a pressure of 1000 pounds per square inch and fired by
means of a black-powder fuse crimped in the usual way, caused
the detonation of ordinary 40% nitroglycerin dynamite and of a
gelatin dynamite which had become insensitive after storage of
more than a year. The velocity of detonation of HMTD, loaded
at a density of 0.88 in a column 0.22 inch in diameter, was found
by the U. S. Bureau of Mines Explosives Testing Laboratory to
be 4511 meters per second.
A small quantity of HMTD decomposed without exploding
when dropped onto molten metal at 190°, but a small quantity
detonated instantly when dropped onto molten metal at 200°.
A 0.05-gram sample ignited in 3 seconds at 149°. At temperatures
which are only moderately elevated the explosive shows signs of
volatilizing and decomposing. Taylor and Rinkenbach report the
results of experiments in which samples on watch glasses were
heated in electric ovens at various temperatures, and weighed
and examined from time to time, as shown below. The sample