[Milsurplus] Green Bombs

[J Forster]

New explosives could be more powerful and safer to handle than TNT and
other conventional explosives and would also be more environmentally
friendly.

TNT, RDX and other explosives commonly used in military and industrial
applications often generate toxic gases upon detonation that pollute the
environment.
Moreover, the explosives themselves are toxic and can find their way
into the environment due to incomplete detonation and as unexploded
ordnance. They are also
extremely dangerous to handle, as they are highly sensitive to physical
shock, such as hard impacts and electric sparks.

To make safer, more environmentally friendly explosives, scientists in
Germany turned to a recently explored class of materials called
tetrazoles. These derive most of
their explosive energy from nitrogen instead of carbon as TNT and others
do.

Tiny bombs were made from two promising tetrazoles with the
alphabet-soup names of HBT and G2ZT. These materials proved less apt to
explode accidentally
than conventional explosives.

After the bombs were detonated in the laboratory, G2ZT also proved as
powerful than TNT, and HBT more powerful than TNT and comparable to RDX,
said
researcher Thomas Klapötke, a chemist at the University of Munich in
Germany.

In initial experiments, G2ZT and HBT produced fewer toxic byproducts
than common explosives. Still, they did generate some dangerous hydrogen
cyanide gas.
But mixing these compounds with oxidizers not only avoids making
hydrogen cyanide, but also improved performance, Klapötke said.

These compounds have great potential, "especially for large caliber
naval and tank guns," Klapötke added.

Klapötke and his colleague Carles Miró Sabate are scheduled to detail
their findings in the June 24 issue of the journal Chemistry of
Materials.

The research was financially supported by the Ludwig-Maximilian
University of Munich, the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie, the European
Research Office of the
U.S. Army Research Laboratory, the U.S. Army's Armament Research,
Development and Engineering Center, and the Bundeswehr Research
Institute for
Materials, Explosives, Fuels and Lubricants.

© 2008 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

=======

FYI,
-John

==================