Nuetralizing Ferric Picrate Crystals
Hi,
I won this wonderful, inert, WWII 37mm Japanese cannon round from a local estate auction. Apparently, in WWII the Japanese used picric acid in these
explosive tipped projectiles.
As you can see in the pictures, it was disarmed and cleaned out, but a little residue must have remained, reacting with the metal and crystalizing
over the decades since WWII. After some googling and talking on some military ordinance Face Book forums, I think this is probably ferric picrate
salts or crystals.
This cannon round been in a wood box getting bounced around here and there for decades, and the residue amount seems relatively small, so I'm not
overly concerned about it blowing anything up. However, I'd like to neutralize these crystals and clean this residue out.
Does anyone have a general sense as to how this would burn? Would this little amount burn quickly and explosively or more slowly and moderately, like
gun powder? How much energy would these crystals in this quantity release if exposed to flame or shock?
I've read that Fenton's reagent would neutralize this, but I'm not a chemist and don't have ready access to the reagent. The only thing I can think
of is soaking it in water and baking soda until the crystals dissolve, scrubbing it out with a nylon brush, drying it and wiping it down with acetone.
Would this make sodium picrate? And is sodium picrate benign?
If these crystals aren't too explosively volatile, could I just run a fuse (match stick tips crushed into some tape) into this and let it burn to
clear it out, or would I still have picrate residue?
I'd greatly appreciate any info as to the volatility of these crystals in the amount I have and any ideas on how to neutralize and clean this out.
  
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