twelti
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Unusual PETN problem
I wanted to try PETN synthesis, having had good luck with ETN. I can't even get started though, for a strange reason. The pentaerythritol I bought
(from China source BTW), is ROCK hard. I know it is supposed to be ground to a fine powder. I had no issues with grinding other materials for other
projects. But THIS one! I spent 30 minutes with mortar and pestle and barely made a dent in it. My hand has a new blister. I'm putting more energy
into the grinding than the detonation will produce. I tried in a coffee grinder, made a horrendous noise. After several minutes, not much change in
the crystals. I took it and wrapped it in several layers of paper and wailed on it with a 5 lb hammer as hard as I could for several minutes, still
dont think I'm ever going to get it to a "fine" powder. Should I try and recrystalize it somehow? I'm at a loss...
Maybe this one should be moved to "Chine Supplier" thread. I believe what I got was not PE. It is not soluble in EtOH ! It said "PVA" on the bag, I
just assumed that was a Chinese abreviation for their name for it. On after thought that was stupid of me! Poly Vinyl Alcohol?
[Edited on 28-4-2019 by twelti]
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MineMan
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Does it produce a liquid upon melting or does it just burn?? Does it deform under impact or act plasticly? Yah. Pretty sure you got some polymer.
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XeonTheMGPony
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Plus side is if it is PVA grind some powder off and you got the perfect thing to make PVA - lead azide, and I love it, very easy to work with, low
dust, and compounds and presses beautifully
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twelti
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Quote: Originally posted by MineMan  | | Does it produce a liquid upon melting or does it just burn?? Does it deform under impact or act plasticly? Yah. Pretty sure you got some polymer.
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I didn't try heating it yet, but it DID seem to deform more like a plastic when I hammered on it. Also after tryint to nitrate it (was gonna use the
procedure where you dissolve in HNO3 first then add to H2SO4) it never fully dissolved and clumped up into a brown mass when I dumped it in water.
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Tsjerk
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Does it dissolve in water? Poly vinyl alcohol is soluble in water but not in ethanol. I use PVA foam when fishing to make the bait and hook float when
dropping on the bottom of the water to make sure the hook doesn't get tangled with the line. The foam dissolves within minutes to free the hook.
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twelti
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| Quote: Originally posted by Tsjerk | | Does it dissolve in water? Poly vinyl alcohol is soluble in water but not in ethanol. I use PVA foam when fishing to make the bait and hook float when
dropping on the bottom of the water to make sure the hook doesn't get tangled with the line. The foam dissolves within minutes to free the hook.
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No, it seems to not be soluble in anything I have.
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Tsjerk
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Strange. Poly vinyl acetate is also soluble in quite some solvents.
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