R. Meyer J. Köhler A. Homburg Explosives

27 Ballistic Mortar
liveliness at p/pmax = 0.87 (disintegration of the powder granules into
slivers) is greatly rounded off in the measured curves, because not all
of the granules burn up at exactly the same time and small differences
in geometry always arise (manufacturing tolerances)
Ballistic Mortar
ballistischer Mörser, mortier ballistique
An instrument for comparative determinations of the performance of
different explosives. A mortar, provided with a borehole, into which a
snugly fitting solid steel projectile has been inserted, is suspended at
the end of a 10 ft long pendulum rod. Ten grams of the explosive to be
tested are detonated in the combustion chamber. The projectile is
driven out of the mortar by the fumes, and the recoil of the mortar is a
measure of the energy of the projectile; the magnitude determined is
the deflection of the pendulum. This deflection, which is also known as
weight strength, is expressed as a percentage of the deflection produced
by blasting gelatine, arbitrarily taken as 100. Also, relative
values referring to the deflection produced by TNT are listed, especially
for explosives of military interest.
This method, which is commonly employed in English-speaking countries,
and which is suited for the experimental determination of the
Fig. 6. Ballistic mortar.