Nov 01, 2010 the explosive substance used in the air freight bomb plot was cleverly concealed inside a printer cartridge within a package, making it very difficult to detect. A wide variety of manufacturers, distributors and service companies are featured in our extensive vertical directory to allow ease sourcing and research for petn explosives. Epx1 is a new plastic explosive in the research stage which has been prepared for military and civilian applications. Nonshock initiation model for high explosive families. The white powder is popular with extremists because it is available on the black market and very difficult to detect at. Chemical explosives the main purpose of any warhead is to inflict damage on the target.
The oldest type of explosive material known is black powder. For example, semtex is a blend of cyclomethylenetrinitramine rdx and petn. One step closer to understanding explosive sensitivity with molecule. The ultimate goal is to see if can we predictively tune explosives.
Materials that detonate the front of the chemical reaction moves faster through the material than the speed of sound are said to be high explosives and materials that deflagrate are said to be low explosives. Pentaerythritol trinitrate is an extremely powerful plastic explosive. Sep 20, 2012 study shows why common explosive petn sometimes fails by sandia national laboratories sandia researchers alex tappan left and rob knepper watch the detonation of a critical thickness experiment. The pure petn is again rinsed with distilled water to remove remaining traces of acid and acetone, filtered, and dried to a 10 percent water content. The critical fluence of the initiation of the explosive decomposition of pentaerythritol tetranitrate petn by the second harmonic of a neodymium laser 532 nm is found to be 12. A new method of preparing the high explosive rdx journal of the. It is prepared by reacting pentaerythritol c 5 h 12 o 4, an alcohol traditionally used in paints and varnishes, with nitric acid hno 2. This reaction produces hydrogen, which runs through the tube, bubbles through the water and fills the balloon. Fact sheet explosives in the united states bureau of.
The first successful one, patented in france in 1908, consisted of a lead tube, about the same diameter as safety fuse, filled with a core of tnt. Penta refers to the five carbon atoms of the neopentane skeleton. A safe explosive that could be set off by mobile phone. How to make petn, the same explosive used by the christmas. Pentaerythritol tetranitrate an overview sciencedirect topics. Welcome to the premier industrial petn explosives resource. Examples can be found in the 1985 llnl explosives handbook. Chemical explosive reaction rapidity of reaction 22 distinguishes the explosive reaction from an ordinary combustion reaction by the great speed with which it takes place. Characteristics of a new plastic explosive named epx1. A number of test strips are then run simultaneously from the sample, giving visual results for military explosives and multiple homemade explosive components in 3 minutes. Two centuries later, the development of nitroglycerin and dynamite led to advancements such as the construction of road tunnels and the invention of the. Petn stands for pentaerythrite tetranitrate explosive suggest new definition this definition appears somewhat frequently and is found in the following acronym finder categories. Many substances not ordinarily classed as explosives may do one, or even two, of these things.
Epa670273053g august 1973 environmental protection technology series recommended methods of reduction, neutralization, recovery or disposal of hazardous waste volume vii propellants, explosives, chemical warfare office of research and development u. The heat produced is what is employed in industrial applications. The stable and safe explosive petn or pentaerythritol tetranitrate was chosen as it is safe to handle and can be detonated through a mobile phone. After settling, excess water and acetone are decanted and the remaining petn can be filtered out after filtering, the petn was put on a small petri plate and dried.
Reaction path when a catalyst is used, the activation energy of the forward reaction is reduced to 35 kj mol. Petn is a powerful explosive material with a relative effectiveness factor of 1. Discontinued the explosive detection imass device is used to directly sample surfaces, solids and liquids using an integrated sponge. The dry petn is dissolved in heated acetone, purified with a neutralizing agent, and then poured into cold water where the purified petn is precipitated. Tnt has a detonation velocity of 6,940 ms compared to 1,680 ms for the. Other hazards bromine pentafluoride is such a powerful fluorinating agent that it will react with most metal halidesi will, convert many oxides to fluorides and will burn with many organic compounds. The petn is used as explosive in combination with tnt or hexogen for grenades or for detonating cords. Chemical explosive reaction a chemical explosive is a compound or mixture which, upon the application of heat or shock, decomposes or rearranges with extreme rapidity, yielding much gas and heat.
It consists of 94% porous prilled ammonium nitrate nh 4 no 3 an, which acts as the oxidizing agent and absorbent for the fuel, and 6% number 2 fuel oil fo anfo has found wide use in coal mining, quarrying, metal mining, and civil construction in. Full text of explosives and demolitions fm 5 250 see other formats. Chemistry of high energy materials scripps research. Explosives usually have less potential energy than fuels, but their high rate of energy release produces a great blast pressure.
The commercially important explosive pentaerythritol tetranitrate is produced by direct reaction of pentaerythritol. Pentaerythritol tetranitrate petn, also known as pent, penta, ten, corpent, or penthrite or, rarely and primarily in german, as nitropenta, is an explosive material. Crc handbook of chemistry and physics 88th edition 20072008. Petn, abbreviation of pentaerythritol tetranitrate, a highly explosive organic compound belonging to the same chemical family as nitroglycerin and nitrocellulose. How to make petn, the same explosive used by the christmas day terrorist on the internet now. The way the damage is caused may vary with different types of warheads, but in the most general sense, damage is caused by the transfer of energy from the warhead to the target. Disposing of a few pounds of petn explosives at wais divide field camp. Nov 01, 2010 pentaerythritol tetranitrate is an extremely powerful plastic explosive. Petn is a valued weapon in terrorist bombings, because of its explosive power, its ability to be molded and fitted into unusual packages, and the difficulty of detecting the organic compound with. Specificity was obtained using multiple reaction monitoring with identification based on ion ratio calculation using two transitions for each analyte. Exothermic chemical reaction comprised of an oxidant and fuel.
Petn, on the other hand is an oxygenrich molecule that with the assumption of full conversion of the detonation products into co2 and h2o and n2 it is almost 10% deficient in its oxygen content. There are many chemical reactions that will release energy. Trace detection of rdx, hmx and petn explosives using a. While previously used for gunpowder, in the 1600s black powder was used in mining and rock blasting for road construction. Petn pentaerythrite tetranitrate explosive acronymfinder. Methyl chloride, for example, reacts explosively with brf5 contact with water must be prevented to avoid an explosive reaction.
Along with rdx it is the main ingredient of semtex. The reacting solution is chilled to precipitate the petn, which is filtered out, washed, dried, and recrystallized to produce a colourless. Remember to write your candidate number on the front of the answer booklet and indicate whether you have answered question a. Pentaerythritol tetranitrate, also known as pent, penta, ten, corpent, or penthrite, is an explosive material. The petn reaction will be examined as an example of thermochemical. Although the chemical structure of etn is simple and its preparation is undemanding, this explosive is. Youngeun choi, dario remmler, maximilian ries, felix rosicke, radwan sarhan, felix stete, zhiyang zhang. Petn was invented in germany in 1894, is one of the more powerful explosive materials, and is typically used only in small quantities due to its relatively high sensitivity. Explosive materials may be categorized by the speed at which they expand.
Epx1 explosive contains pentaerythritol tetranitrate petn with different particle size as explosive filler bonded by nonenergetic thermoplastic binder plasticized by dibutyl phthalate dbp. The white powder is popular with extremists because it is available on the black market and very difficult to detec. Thermal decomposition of pentaerythritol tetranitrate wiley online. Formex is used by military and special forces for all works of demolition, window cutting, etc. The physical and explosive properties of erythritol tetranitrate etn are described herein. It is prepared by reacting pentaerythritol c5h12o4, an alcohol traditionally used in paints and varnishes, with nitric acid hno2. One step closer to understanding explosive sensitivity. Petn, a highly explosive organic compound belonging to the same chemical family as nitroglycerin and nitrocellulose. Recommended methods of reduction, neutralization, recovery. Compared to tnt it has 70% more power considering the explosionheat or the leadblockexpansion. Full text of fm 5250 explosives and demolitions 1992. Terrorists may have used hardtodetect plasticbased explosive petn in wednesdays delhi high court blast the same substance used in the underwear bomb plot on a 2009 northwest airlines flight.
When mixed with a plasticizer, petn forms a plastic explosive. Pentaerythritol tetranitrate petn is an explosive used as the primary ingredient in detonating fuses and as a component in some plastic explosives. An improved reaction rate equation for simulating the ignition and growth of reaction in high explosives. An effect of the reaction light absorption on the formation of the detonation reaction zone 3dstructure in pbxs.
Jan 10, 2010 12292009 cnn examination of petn explosive. Petn based plastic explosives are produced for demolition, destruction of mines, demilitarization or as main fill in hand grenades. Pdf explosive decomposition of petn with nanoaluminum. As a nitrate ester, petn is structurally similar to nitroglycerin in its pharmacological vasodilatory and explosive properties. Sciencemadness discussion board petnbased cast explosives.
Study shows why common explosive petn sometimes fails. Visible and nearinfrared spectral signatures following the detonation of petn based explosives. It was made by filling a large tube with molten tnt that was allowed to solidify. In this paper, the production method of epx1 was described. The petn acetone mix is then filtered and poured into a beaker containing 600ml of ice cold water, causing the petn to precipitate to the bottom as fine crystals.
The vast majority of explosives are chemical explosives. The addition of an explosive ingredient, such as tnt, in sufficient quantity. Detonating cord detonating fuse resembles safety fuse but contains a high explosive instead of black powder. Unless the reaction occurs rapidly, the thermally expanded gases will be dissipated in the medium, and there will be no explosion. Full text of fm 5250 explosives and demolitions 1992 see other formats. Petn is an explosive chemical that is currently used as the primary ingredient in detonating fuses and as a component mixed with hexahydro1,2,5trinitro1,3,4triazine in plastic explosives. It is an essential nutrient for plant protein synthesis. Pentaerythritol tetranitrate an overview sciencedirect. It is also used to manufacture sesamex, a flexible and selfadhesive explosive tape based system for cutting out openings in various types of barriers. By applying the same set of rules, complete the equation for the decomposition of the explosive petn, c5h8n4o12.