R. Meyer J. Köhler A. Homburg Explosives

Tetrytol
secondary charges for blasting caps. Owing to its relatively high
melting point, it is employed pressed rather than cast.
Specifications
melting point: not less than 128.5 °C = 270 °F
volatiles, incl. moisture: not
more than 0.10 %
benzene insolubles,
not more than 0.07 %
ash content, not more than 0.03 %
acidity, as HNO3,
not more than 0.005 %
alkalinity none
Tetrytol
A pourable mixture of 70% Tetryl and 30% TNT.
Thermobaric Explosives
TBX, Single- event FAE, explosifs thermobarique,
Thermobare Sprengstoffe
Type of W FAE with solid fuel, mainly using aluminium or magnesium.
Because their reaction with atmospheric oxygen only produces solid
oxides the blast wave is primarily generated by heat of combustion
(“thermobaric”) instead of expanding explosion gases.
The advantage to classical FAE is the shorter delay between distribution
of the fuel cloud and ignition of the fuel/air mixture. In this third and
fourth generation of fuel air explosives there is no more need for an
atomization charge which makes them a real “single event FAE”.
The peak pressure of TBX is obviously lower than in typical high
explosives, but with up to 200 milliseconds it lasts over 200 times
longer. In the 90’s Russia already brought a thermobaric warhead into
service, the Anti-Tank Rocket RPG-7 (RPO-A) “Satan’s pipe” against
snipers in urban areas. A thermobaric mixture developed at NSWC
-Indian Head in 2001 contains high-insensitive explosive on W HMX-
Aluminium- HTPB -basis called PBXIH-135 (a Type of SFAE – solid
fuel air explosive). PBXIH-135 is used in the laser-guided bomb BLU
118/B.
Thermite
312
An incendiary composition consisting of 2.75 parts of black iron oxide
(ferrosoferric oxide) and 1.0 part of granular aluminum.