nitropyrotech - 30-12-2025 at 14:09
So this question neither focus on the chemistry behind energetic itself or the process behind it. But it does on the handling and testing of energetic
materials. So for the beginning of the new year I had planned to detonate 16 kg of ANFO on my farm, for that I ve alreaedy grinded everything and put
Diesel in a scale of 94(AN)/6(Diesel), for that I need a booster, a strong one. Thats why I planned using ANAL in the scale of 80(AN)/20(AL) and for
the blasting cap I ve planned to fill a blank PT100 thermocouple cap with 500mg of Nickel Aminoguandine di Perchlorate, I usually use selfmade PBX
based with PETN and a PETN/NAP Booster for this kind of task but however it is I dont have any PBX left. So for the first question Idk if 500mg of NAP
will be able to detonate the whole booster charge of 100g of ammonal and for the second question idk if the 100g booster will be able to detonate all
ofthe 16kg of ANFO. Just for reference should I use more ANAL and less ANFO for that? I hope anyone can answer me the question.
Radiums Lab - 30-12-2025 at 17:29
16Kg! Can you please record some footage for me? Also use some TNT in ammonal.
[Edited on 31-12-2025 by Radiums Lab]
Etanol - 31-12-2025 at 00:46
The mass of the primary or booster detonator does not depend on the mass of the substance you plan to detonate. For 1 kg and for 1 ton, it is the
same.
If you've ground your AN for ANFO really well, you won't have any problems with it detonating from 100-200g of AN/AL.
However, I'm not sure how well you can make a primary detonator.
Therefore, I would recommend increasing this to 1-1.5g of tightly compressed NAP.
In addition, change the composition to 16...18%Al/84...82%AN as more brisant, and test the same ANAL charge on a steel plate with your primary
detonator to ensure high-quality detonation of the booster.
ManyInterests - 1-1-2026 at 15:22
Wow! That is one hell of a charge! What a send off for the New Year, too!
I never contructed anything other small detonators and a small charge using chlorate/vasline. I would have to look up the technical manuals on
military/mining exposives on how they work. I know that military charges often have multiple booster charges in order to ensure complete detonation of
the device.
Microtek - 1-1-2026 at 23:30
The reason for using multiple initiation trains is to reduce the likelyhood of failure. If just one of the boosters initiate the main charge, all of
it will detonate (unless it has an unusual configuration such as thin regions where detonation might not be transmitted well). However, each element
of the train has a small probability of not initiating the next, which translates to a certain likelyhood that one train will initiate the main
charge. This might be something like 99%, ie. 1 % chance of failure, but if two independent identical trains are used the likelyhood of succesful
initiation will then be 1-0.01^2 = 0.9999. Considering the low cost of the initiating train and the consequences of failed initiation, it often makes
sense to use multiple trains.