The History of Explosives

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The History of Explosives

• N. C. Dept. of Transportation
• Safety Loss Control

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Black Powder

• Saltpeter or Nitre
• Chinese as early as the 10th Century
• Roger Bacon published formula in 1242
• Berthold Schwartz invented Gun 1300

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Black Powder

• First Powder Mill in Massachusetts in 1675
• Americans first blasted with powder around 1773
• American Revolution hastened manufacture of black
  powder
• New frontiers required blasting to build roads
  and canals for transporting goods and people
  (early 1800s)

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What is This?
Dance Hall?
Baptist Church?
Powder Magazine Colonial Williamsburg, VA.
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How Important was Black Powder?
10 Wall
Guard House
Location
Storage
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Nitroglycerin and Dynamite

• Discovered by Ascanio Sobrero in 1846
• Nobel built factory in 1861
• Nobel Patented Dynamite in 1867
• Problems included fumes, freezing, headaches
• 750 million pounds manufactured in 1955

Dynamite - from Dynamis, meaning power
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Ammonium Nitrate

• Synthesized in 1659 by J. R. Glauber
• Used for fertilizer and explosives products
• Texas City explosion
• ANFO
• Pros Easier to load, cheaper, and safer than
  dynamite
• Cons desensitized by water
• Over 2.2 Billion pounds manufactured in 1974

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Water Gels

• Developed in 1940s to solve the water problem
• Non-Nitroglycerin
• Use increased with development of equipment for
  drilling large diameter holes

Pros economics, loading density, low
sensitivity, water resistance, no nitro Cons
needs sensitizer, not for small holes
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Binary/Two Component Explosives

• Usually consist of Ammonium Nitrate (sensitizer)
  and Nitromethane (fuel)
• Advantages include
• not a Class A explosive until mixed
• no danger of fire while in storage
• available in correct type and size
• can deactivate after mixing
• will detonate at minus 140F
• Disadvantages include
• cost
• time required to mix

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Initiation Devices

• Safety Fuse
• Fuse Caps
• Electric Blasting Caps
• Delay Caps
• Vented Caps
• Composition Caps
• Detonating Cord
• Nonelectric Delay Caps
• Shock Tube

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ANFO

• EXPLOSIVES type ANFO
• PURPOSE
• Explosives type ANFOs are based on ammonium
  nitrate, fuel oil and additions. They are used
  for open air and underground blasting works in
  the mines and quarrieres, where no methane gas,
  coal dust or water are presented.
• INITIATION
• Explosives type ANFO are initiated by TNT booster
  with min.charge of  0,400 kg  or another material
  of equivalent power with fire detonator, electric
  detonator, non-electric (NONEL) detonator or
  detonating cord attached.
• TERMS OF STORAGE
• Explosives type ANFO have to be stored in dry,
  indoor stores by temperature from minus 35?C  to
  35?C up to 3 months from the date of
  manufacturing