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For a long time nitroglycerine (NG) based gelatine explosives were the only
products available for blasting in hard rock. Alfred Nobel developed NG
gelatine in the 19th Century. They suffered from defects like headache
during usage, excessive fumes taking long time to clear after blasting, high
hazard of accidental detonation and in some cases very poor water
resistance. In 1950’s slurry explosives were developed which could
overcome all these defects – they were non-headache causing, had low
fumes, excellent water resistance and lower sensitivity to accidental
detonation. However, the blasting performance of slurry explosives did not
match that of NG gelatines. Therefore, many blasters continued to use NG
gelatines. During last one decade or so, emulsion explosives have replaced
slurries.
Slurry Explosives
The presences of solids (solid 1 and solid 2) as well as the ammonium nitrate
crystals that precipitated upon cooling of the formulation lead to the general
designation of 'slurries' for these composite blasting agents/explosives.
Emulsion Explosives
Due to the presence of solid ingredients in the explosive mixture in case of
Slurries, the intimacy between the fuel and the oxidiser and consequently the
efficiency of the reaction, had still got a lot of room for improvement. Hence
Emulsion-Based products were developed replacing the solid ingredients by
liquid ones. This led to an explosive whose performance was a class above
slurries. An emulsion-Based explosive consists of the following ingredients
Oxidizers that are responsible for "Burning" the mixture generally consist of a
blend of Nitrates viz. Ammonium Nitrate (maximum percentage), Sodium
Nitrate (for lowering the fudge point temperature at which emulsification
occurs), Calcium Nitrate and Zinc Nitrates. Ammonium Nitrate (NH4NO3),
upon combustion breaks down into Nitrogen, Hydrogen and Oxygen, all of
which are gases. Hence, the chemical reaction is much more complete when
oxidizers such as these are used.
Fuels that are the molecules that "Burn" in the mixture comprises of
Hydrocarbons like Paraffin and Microcrystalline Waxes and Oils that form a
continuous medium/phase in the intimate mixture.
Dopants are the solid, inert elements added to the Emulsions to render
specific requirements into the mixture. For example, aluminum powder is
added to increase the Energy/Strength of the explosive, but reduces the
Velocity of Detonation (VOD) of the chemical reaction front.
The following table shows the characteristic sizes of oxidizers and their effect
on explosive performance
Explosive Size Form VOD
(mm) (Km/s)
ANFO 2.00 All Solid 3.2