Basic chemistry of explosives and hazards of home- made explosives and chemical precursors Chapter 5

This Reference Module contains peer-reviewed, comprehensive content from our reference works as curated by our world-class editorial board led by Editor-in-Chief, Jan Reedijk. It is designed for faster, more relevant browsing within the subject and beyond, with topic pages for quick, clear overviews, subject hierarchies to put everything in context, and guidance to lead researchers to related knowledge. Summary from publisher website 1. Introduction 1.1. Scope 2. Explosive matter 2.1. Considerations regarding explosives 2.1.1. Classification of explosives according to their composition 2.1.2. Classification of explosives according to their application 2.2. Considerations regarding HMEs 2.2.1. Basics of HME 2.2.2. HME-related hazards 2.2.3. Factors affecting production, safety, reliability and performance of HMEs 2.3. Comparative considerations between industrially manufactured explosives and HMEs 2.3.1. Industrial manufacturing 2.3.2. Improvised manufacturing 3. Physical and chemical basics regarding characteristics of explosives 3.1. Classification of explosives 3.1.1. High explosives 3.1.2. Low explosives or propellants 3.1.3. Pyrotechnics 3.2. Explosive reactions 3.2.1. Combustion 3.2.2. Deflagration 3.2.3. Detonation 3.2.4. Transition between combustion – deflagration – detonation 3.3. Physical characteristics of explosives 3.3.1. Brisance 3.3.2. Stability 3.3.3. Strength 3.3.4. Sensitivity and sensitiveness 3.3.5. Oxygen balance 3.3.6. Confinement 3.3.7. Considerations regarding physical characteristics of HMEs 4. Chemical precursors 4.1. Fundamentals on physical parameters 4.2. Acids 4.3. Oxidisers 4.3.1. Group of nitrates 4.3.2. Group of chlorates 4.3.3. Group of perchlorates 4.3.4. Further oxidisers 4.4. Fuels 4.4.1. Liquid fuels 4.4.2. Solid fuels 4.4.3. Metallic fuels 4.5. Additives and catalysts 4.5.1. Sensitisers and tinder 4.5.2. Catalysts, reactants, binders and phlegmatisers 4.6. Effects of ageing 5. Home-made explosives 5.1. Chlorate and perchlorate-based HMEs 5.1.1. Potassium chlorate-based HMEs 5.1.2. Sodium chlorate-based HMEs 5.1.3. Ammonium perchlorate-based HMEs 5.1.4. Potassium perchlorate-based HMEs 5.2. Nitrate-based HMEs 5.2.1. Ammonium nitrate-based HMEs 5.2.2. Calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN)- based HMEs 5.2.3. Methyl nitrate-based HMEs 5.2.4. Urea nitrate-based HMEs 5.3. Peroxide-based HMEs 5.3.1. Concentrated hydrogen peroxide (CHP) 5.3.2. Acetone peroxide 5.3.3. Hexamethylene triperoxide diamine 5.3.4. Methyl ethyl ketone peroxide 5.4. Nitromethane-based HMEs 5.5. Nitrate ester-based HMEs 6. Gas-generating reactions 7. Improvised incendiaries 7.1. Basics of improvised incendiaries 7.2. Improvised incendiary compositions 7.3. Improvised chemical igniters 8. Improvised pyrotechnics 8.1. Basics of improvised pyrotechnics 8.2. Noise and light effects 8.3. Colour effects 8.4. Smoke effects 9. Improvised primary explosives 9.1. Basics of improvised primary explosives 9.2. Examples of improvised primary explosives 10. General safety considerations 10.1. Basic safety rules and considerations 10.1.1. Safety considerations 10.1.2. Work hygiene and safety 10.2. Personal protective equipment and intrinsically safe equipment 10.2.1. Application of PPE and intrinsically safe equipment 10.2.2. Considerations regarding specific PPE 10.3. Temporary storage of HMEs and chemicals 10.3.1. General considerations on temporary storage of HMEs and chemicals 10.3.2. Chemical-related storage considerations 10.3.3. Constructional, technical and organisational measures 10.3.4. Spatial separation 10.4. Firefighting 10.4.1. Safety considerations 10.4.2. Portable fire extinguishers 11. Conclusion 12. Lexicon of abbreviations 13. Glossary of terms 14. List of HMEs and chemicals 15. Bibliography 16. Further references