Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Dioxane a suitable fuel for AN slurry?

OneEyedPyro - 10-1-2024 at 13:03

Has anyone tried it? Any ideas on solubility of AN in dioxane and water?
EG seems to work very well so I figured dioxane might be even better.

dettoo456 - 10-1-2024 at 20:35

It could perform well but it is certainly more expensive than EG and has a lower density. If you have really any carbonaceous fuel lying around though, it’ll probably work well enough with AN and a good booster charge. GSX’s can use EG, diesel, aromatics, short-chain alkanes, and lots of other stuff.

I’d recommend Dioxane for a FAE composition with some Al and hexane before trying anything with AN, in my opinion.

OneEyedPyro - 11-1-2024 at 04:04

Quote: Originally posted by dettoo456  
It could perform well but it is certainly more expensive than EG and has a lower density. If you have really any carbonaceous fuel lying around though, it’ll probably work well enough with AN and a good booster charge. GSX’s can use EG, diesel, aromatics, short-chain alkanes, and lots of other stuff.

I’d recommend Dioxane for a FAE composition with some Al and hexane before trying anything with AN, in my opinion.


It's low density, miscibility with water, low viscosity and reasonably low autoignition temperature all seem to indicate it would be a both powerful in its own right as a fuel and reduce the amount of water required in a slurry.
This is all assuming ammonium nitrate is soluble to at least some degree in it.

Industrially dioxane at its azeotrope with water should be dirt cheap to make but unfortunately it's a bit of a niche chemical.

dettoo456 - 11-1-2024 at 14:28

I’d say high density and high viscosity in a slurry mix for simple handling reasons is preferable. But I could be wrong. Also a high auto ignition would probably be better too simply to aid in safety. For example, diesel which has a moderately high auto ignition temp and even EG which has a very high autoignition temp can be used in AN mixes with great effect - the slurry mix doesn’t need to ignite to detonate, it just needs a blast wave from a nearby detonation.

Also, liquid fuels would probably be better but they do need to form a sort of eutectic with the oxidizer. More info on dioxane’s solubility for AN needs to be looked at.

I still think MeAN is the best choice for anything AN-related though; it’s dirt cheap, easy to source, close to as powerful as TNT, and only requires heating and stirring to produce.