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Author: Subject: Guncotton (Pyrotechnic Low Nitrogen)
freedompyro
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cool.gif posted on 16-7-2011 at 01:16
Guncotton (Pyrotechnic Low Nitrogen)


I previously made high nitrogen guncotton which is a piece of cake. No messing with water/HNO3 ratios...

However what I actually need is low nitrogen (dissolving) guncotton. I happen to have a bunch of single base powder, but it's nice to have the real stuff too...

I got this synthesis out of COPAE but there is something fishy about it...

Low Nitrogen
175g HNO3 (100%)
225g H2SO4 (98%)
100g H2O
18g Cotton Wool (Cellulose)

18g Cotton only??? Woah... This is a huge waste of chemicals... Something is wrong here... This synthesis should at least call for 45g of Cotton for that much HNO3... If these ratios are correct this is way too expensive unless you are doing a continual re-fortification of acids and reusing the same solution a few times...

Must be necessary to achieve the highest quality 12% nitrogen NC possible though.

Maybe I should stick to store bought single base powders...

No idea how to calculate how much acid I need to re-fortify the solution over again... Maybe the best thing to do is just take the waste acids... Add one more volume of H2SO4 vs total liquids, distill off the nitric, then boil off the water and use the acids over again fresh. Gahh... *Headache*

[Edited on 16-7-2011 by freedompyro]
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vulture
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[*] posted on 16-7-2011 at 02:52


I remember, in my young, ignorant years, making NC with 65% HNO3 and 85% H3PO4 (instead of the usual 96% H2SO4). This produced some NC of questionable nitrogen content, but it formed beautiful plastic films when evaporated from acetone, an acetone solution left to evaporate in a beaker would form a ring of clear NC film.

[Edited on 16-7-2011 by vulture]




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QHarryQ
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[*] posted on 19-7-2011 at 08:30


I'm going to apologize for my poor English at first.I really doute that you can't make low nitrogen guncotton .It's also a piece of cake,more easily than high nitrogen guncotton.You needn't have changed the H2SO4/HNO3/H2O ratio,the only thing to change is the mixed acid/cutton ratio and time.To synthetize guncotton,you only need 68% HNO3 instead of fuming HNO3,which is much more expensive.Even with 68% HNO3 you can synthetize high nitrogen guncotton.I have try this before,and it proves to be practical.
high nitrogen guncotton
H2SO4/HNO3/H2O =69.6/17.6/12.8(in mass)
mixed acid/cotton=60/1(in mass)
68%HNO3/98%H2SO4≈1:2(in volume)

I keep the cutton in mixed acid for about 4 hours,and I get high nitrogen guncotton(N>13%),which dosen't dissolve in ether-ethanol solution(2:1 in volume) at all but in acetone completly.As for low nitrogen guncotton,mixed acid/cotton=1/20(in mass),and 10 minutes is enough.And you can get low nitrogen guncotton(N 11.0-12.0),which mostly dissolves in ether-ethanol solution and completly dissolve in acetone.It does need much acid to make guncotton,much more than PETN and RDX.
Several videos about my high Nitrogen guncotton_______just for fun! -----------
http://player.youku.com/player.php/sid/XMjgwMTEyNDA4/v.swf
http://player.youku.com/player.php/sid/XMjgwMTEyMjI4/v.swf
http://player.youku.com/player.php/sid/XMjgwMDUyNDMy/v.swf (0.3g of high N NC)
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