DENSITY – 1.71 g per ml @ 206,850 kPa (30,000 psi)
NORMAL STATE – Crystalline solid
PHYSICAL APPEARANCE/COLOR – Colorless or light yellow crystalline solid
INITIATION – 0.20 g Mercury fulminate, 0.10 g Lead azide
SENSITIVITY – Not sensitive to friction, 70% explosion from impact with a 7.62mm (.30 cal.) rifle bullet
STABILITY – Equivalent to TNT
DETONATION VELOCITY – 7,850 m/s (25,755 fps)
RE FACTOR (BRISANCE) [TNT=1.0] – 1.25
TOXICITY – Skin contact will cause coloring and dermatitis, Inhalation of dust should be avoided
MELTING POINT – 129o C.(264o F.)
IGNITION POINT – 257o C. (495o F.) for 5 seconds
SOLUBILITY – Practically insoluble in water, readily soluble in Acetone
APPLICATIONS – PRINCIPLE USES – Used primarily as a booster explosive and as a component of explosive compounds and in detonators.
Tetryl in its pure state is a fine white powder. Exposure to light gradually turns the explosive yellow while Tetryl loaded into munitions is usually gray due to graphite being added to the mix to act as a lubricant. Tetryl will stain the skin brown if handled and cause dermatitis. By itself, Tetryl has been used as boosters in explosive trains, the booster being explosive that is initiated by the detonator and has a larger explosive force that can set off the main charge. It is in this application as a booster explosive that gave the material prominence as a military explosive in World War I. It was widely used as the base charge in blasting caps in order to increase their power from just the primary explosive such as Mercury Fulminate. Tetryl by itself is a very brisant, powerful explosive, but is too sensitive to be used as a demolition explosive. The power of Tetryl was harnessed as a demolition explosive when it was combined with TNT to make the explosive mixture Tetrytol.
