badabooom - 21-8-2012 at 04:49
I was wondering if there is anyone that has any experience with commercial water gel formulations. I am not referring to the H2O2/Al version, I am
talking about the types of emulsions that are used in the mines and construction industries.
I have a book somewhere that describes the process where PIB is used with AN and Calcium Nitrate blended with diesel fuel to form a oily emulsion that
is water tight. I will have to dig that up some time and post it here, but in the mean time I think this could be a very interesting discussion.
[Edited on 21-8-2012 by badabooom]
quicksilver - 27-8-2012 at 07:21
Water gels have a great range of brisance, strength, & so forth. They are the standard industrial explosive & there is an enormous amount of
research on them. They are generally made of de-milled materials and glass balloons. The majority appear as "sausages" and have flexibility in their
method of stemming.
A great many recovered explosives are used; especially those that had a lot of work put into their construction (warheads, etc). Glass water balloons
are the standard thickener. They range the map of "safety" designs to to very fragile depending on the application. If you have modern material
written on water-gels (especially ISEE) read that. It will have a large amount of information on just what you're looking for.
note:
(The 2004 conference had a focus on water gels)
[Edited on 27-8-2012 by quicksilver]
caterpillar - 27-8-2012 at 16:07
There is a way to get old gun powder to explode (normally it deflagrates with typical velocity of few hundreds mps). Gun powder contents NC which
cannot be stored as long as TNT or RDX. Old gun powder is used as industrial explosive, but to get it detonate one needs add some water (or, better,
saturated solution of AN). Water increases density of such mixture and shock wave will propagate through it. Therefore, NC or gun powder will be
useful in water gel formulation.