Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
According to a large amount of experiments, Nitroglycerin can be adsorbed by
diatomaceous earth to formalize diatomite explosive. The
first diatomite explosive
consisting of 75 % Nitroglycerin and 25 % diatomaceous earth (w/w) was produced
by Nobel in 1867.
Russian engineers [
47
] mixed Nitroglycerin and magnesium carbonate, a type of
solid adsorbent, such formulation has been used for gold mining in Trans-Baykal of
Siberia, Upper-Uspleaskii [
48
].
Theoretically speaking, nitroglycerin can mix with nitric acid ester, ethylene
glycol dinitrate, diethylene glycol dinitrate, glyceryl dinitrate, glycerol trinitrate
isobutyl nitro, azido nitrate, nitric acid hydroxyl ester at any ratio, respectively. The
chemical equation of nitroglycerine can be described as follows:
5
2
H
2
O
3
2
N
2
þ
1
4
O
2
C
3
H
5
ONO
2
ð
Þ
3
!
3CO
2
þ
þ
For nitroglycerin explosion, the explosion heat is 6,231 J/g, explosion volume V
0
is 715.7 mL/g, explosion temperature is 4,250
°
C, and explosion force f
0
is
9,292 m.
The stability of nitroglycerin is generally realized using
filtered water, since it
can be detonated by 200 Hz vibration. However, the stabilized nitroglycerin can be
preserved safely even under 800 Hz vibrations.
Nitroglycerin is sensitive to shock, and the shock sensitivity increases when the
nitroglycerin is absorbed into solid. The liquid nitroglycerin has the most signi
cant
shock sensitivity. The shock sensitivities of different nitroglycerin forms are given
in Table
7.15
.
Nitroglycerin easily explodes by mechanic force and heat, but this explosion is
incomplete. 100 % explosion rate of nitroglycerin can be achieved by gun shot. The
water
fill lead block expansion value of nitroglycerin is determined by detonation
performance, and Table
7.16
lists the water
fill lead block expansion values gen-
erated by different detonators.
Single-used nitroglycerin could be dif
cult to realize stable detonation, however,
mixture of nitroglycerin and diatomaceous earth at 75:25 (w/w) could increase the
Table 7.15 Shock sensitivities of different nitroglycerin forms
Nitroglycerin form
Impact force (kg m/cm
2
)
Explosion rate (%)
Liquid
0.08
10
0.11
50
0.40
100
Stable crystalline
0.51
10
0.65
50
0.82
100
Unstable crystalline
0.63
10
0.78
50
0.93
100
