Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Liquid Explosives
A liquid explosive is a
fluxible compound or mixture that suddenly releases
energies under certain conditions.
Liquid explosives can be simply clari
fl
ed to single compound explosives
(composed of one liquid molecule such as nitroglycerine, xylitol nitrate, nitro-
methane, and other azide mitrates) and liquid explosive mixtures (consist of two or
more compounds, such as a mixture of a combustible agent and an oxidizer). At
least one of the nonexplosive components should be a liquid. The liquid explosive
mixtures are of liquid solution, or of colloidal solution or suspension. Combustible
agents include nitric acids, nitrogen oxides, and tetranitromethane. Oxidizers are of
liquid, including benzene, toluene, ethanol, and hydrazine, while combustible
agents could be either liquid or solid nitro compounds. The major purpose of the
makeup of liquid explosive mixture is to minimize risks in the process of trans-
portation and operation. The explosive components are separately charged and, at
the time before use, mixed together. Liquid explosive mixtures are applied in
military affairs and commercial blasting [
1
]. The components in the formulation
contain nitric acid and nitrogen oxide with features of high volatility and strong
corrosivity that raise challenges in storage and re
ll.
first synthesized in 1847 [
2
], nitroglycerin as a main component in
liquid explosives, has been tremendously investigated and widely used in mining
and other industrial blasting, as well as in military, such as propellant powers. Later,
a series of liquid explosives of nitrate ester, such as dinitrate esters, with better
explosive property and safety were developed [
3
Since it was
5
]. In recent years, the United
States has launched studies of high power and low characteristic signal propellants
to continuously expand the application range of liquid nitrate esters [
6
].
The development and application of liquid explosives are limited because of
stability and energy issues. In order to solve the problems, recently, a great deal of
effort has been made to develop considerable alkyl azide compounds and azide
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