COMMON NAME – Composition C2
NAME – C2
TYPE – High explosive mixture
DATE FIRST USED AS AN EXPLOSIVE – 1943
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN – USA
COMPOSITION – 78.7% RDX, 12.0% Dinitrotoluene (oil), 5.0% TNT, 2.7% Mononitrotoluene, 0.6% Nitrocellulose, 1.0% Dimethylformamide
DENSITY – 1.57 g per ml
NORMAL STATE – Malleable solid
PHYSICAL APPEARANCE/COLOR – White
INITIATION – 0.25 g Lead Azide, 0.11 g Tetryl booster
SENSITIVITY – Slightly more sensitive to impact than TNT
STABILITY – Unstable in long-term storage
DETONATION VELOCITY – 7,925 m/s (26,000 fps)
RE FACTOR (BRISANCE) [TNT=1.0] – 1.34
TOXICITY – Toxic if ingested, releases toxic gases when burned
MELTING POINT – 0 to 40o C. (32 to 104o F.) remains plastic
IGNITION POINT – Above 52o C. (125o F.) becomes hard
FREEZING POINT – -30o C. (-22o F.) becomes hard and brittle
SOLUBILITY – Insoluble in water
APPLICATIONS – PRINCIPLE USES – Flexible, malleable plastic explosive for demolition
Composition C2 was a reformulation of the original British Composition C as produced by the DuPont Company in the United States. Rather than using oil as the plasticizing mixture, Composition C2 used a number of explosive components to plasticize the base RDX. This mixture gave Composition C2 a greater resistance to heat, but also made the formulation slightly more volatile in storage. Composition C2 was considerably more plastic and flexible when used than the earlier formulation. In testing, Composition C2 proved to be slightly more sensitive to impact that the original formulation. It also was slightly more powerful an explosive due to the plasticizing materials used in its formulation.
