Sciencemadness Discussion Board

How much do explosives cost?

Turner - 29-12-2013 at 17:40

At the ski resort I go to, they light These 2lb pentolite hand charges left and right all day long for avalanche control. Makes me wonder how much each of these cost? They require the use of a lot of sulfuric and nitric acid which aren't cheap (for me anyways)

DubaiAmateurRocketry - 29-12-2013 at 17:53

They're okay, once produced on industrial scales. RDX could have around 10 $/kg as the minimum cost or even less. However they sell much higher.

Metacelsus - 29-12-2013 at 19:16

Hope you have a BATFE license! (assuming you are in the USA)

Ral123 - 30-12-2013 at 08:31

Quote: Originally posted by DubaiAmateurRocketry  
They're okay, once produced on industrial scales. RDX could have around 10 $/kg as the minimum cost or even less. However they sell much higher.

That's strange I have the feeling that fine RDX would cost about 50$ kg.

Turner - 30-12-2013 at 09:32

Nope, industry can buy 99% Nitric Acid by the ton for relatively cheap, I think they also use a more efficient process using less valuable chems like nitric acid (Bachmann?) and more acetic anhydride and ammonium nitrate. But, who knows?

testimento - 3-1-2014 at 00:15

Nitric acid 68% and 99% cost a lot less than a grand per metric ton, so goes for oleum, and the the rest materials, like hexamine or pentaerythritol or toluene cost all around 1-4usd per kg. The manufacturing safety standards and the profits bear the highest increase on the cost of the explosive materials, and the TNT being one of the cheapest may cost less than 2 bucks a kg from bulk production line.

I calculated that without the apparatus and labor costs I could make rdx at rate of about 30bucks a kg. That's from OTC stuff, including impure commercial fertilizer as a source of nitric acid and ammonia, and methanol as a source of formaldehyde. If I'd get them from industrial supply, the cost would go down at least 50%.

[Edited on 3-1-2014 by testimento]

Ral123 - 3-1-2014 at 02:47

Quote: Originally posted by testimento  
Nitric acid 68% and 99% cost a lot less than a grand per metric ton, so goes for oleum, and the the rest materials, like hexamine or pentaerythritol or toluene cost all around 1-4usd per kg. The manufacturing safety standards and the profits bear the highest increase on the cost of the explosive materials, and the TNT being one of the cheapest may cost less than 2 bucks a kg from bulk production line.

I calculated that without the apparatus and labor costs I could make rdx at rate of about 30bucks a kg. That's from OTC stuff, including impure commercial fertilizer as a source of nitric acid and ammonia, and methanol as a source of formaldehyde. If I'd get them from industrial supply, the cost would go down at least 50%.

[Edited on 3-1-2014 by testimento]

Add to that the price of pure analitical acetone to purify the sh*t. If RDX is so cheap, that explains why nobody bothers with Tetryl any more.

testimento - 3-1-2014 at 21:23

I only use industrial and technical grade stuff.