The History of Explosives

N. C. Dept. of Transportation

Safety & Loss Control

Black Powder

• Saltpeter or “Nitre”• Chinese as early as the

10th Century• Roger Bacon

published formula in 1242

• Berthold Schwartz invented Gun ~ 1300

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)

What is This?

Baptist Church?

Dance Hall?

Powder Magazine

Colonial Williamsburg, VA.

How Important was Black Powder?

Guard House Location 10’ Wall Storage

• 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

Nitroglycerin and Dynamite

Dynamite - from Dynamis, meaning power

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

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 nitroCons: needs sensitizer, not for small holes

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

Initiation Devices

• Safety Fuse

• Fuse Caps

• Electric Blasting Caps

• Delay Caps

• Vented Caps

• Composition Caps

• Detonating Cord

• Nonelectric Delay Caps

• Shock Tube

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 35C  to 35C up to 3 months from the date of manufacturing