Use Forms of Explosives - Castings

Castings

Castings, or castable explosives, are explosive materials or mixtures in which at least one component can be safely melted at a temperature which is safe to handle the other components, and which are normally produced by casting or pouring the molten mixture or material into a form or use container.

In modern usage, Trinitrotoluene or TNT is the basic meltable explosive used in essentially all castable explosives.

Other ingredients found in modern castable explosives include:

  • Active, energetic or explosive ingredients:
    • Aluminum powder
    • Ammonium nitrate
    • Ammonium picrate
    • Barium nitrate
    • EDNA
    • HMX
    • Lead nitrate
    • PETN
    • Sodium picrate
    • RDX
    • Tetryl
  • Inert ingredients
    • Boric acid
    • Calcium chloride
    • Wax
    • Silica, often in the form of silica fume (Cab-o-sil for example)

Common castable explosives include:

  • Amatol
  • Baratol
  • Boracitol
  • Composition B
  • Cyclotol
  • Octol
  • Pentolite
  • Plumbatol
  • Tritonal
  • Torpex

Read more about this topic:  Use Forms Of Explosives