(English) Poudre B). They are classified into one-base, two-base and three-base.
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✪ What is the difference between smokeless powder and smokeless powder?
✪ Demo experience "Smokeless Powder"
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Description
Smokeless powder burns only on the surface of pellets, flakes or cylinders - for short, granules. Larger pellets burn more slowly and their rate of combustion is also controlled by a special flame-retardant coating, the main function of which is to regulate a more or less constant pressure on the spinning bullet or projectile that has not yet left the gun barrel, allowing them to reach maximum speed.
In 1895-1896, the “Sea Collection” published two large articles by D. I. Mendeleev under the general heading “On Pyrocollodic Smokeless Powder”, where the chemistry of the technology is specifically considered and the reaction for obtaining pyrocollodium is given. The volume of gases emitted during its combustion is characterized, the raw material is consistently and thoroughly considered. D. I. Mendeleev, scrupulously comparing pyrocollodic powder with other gunpowders in 12 parameters, demonstrates its undeniable advantages, first of all, the stability of the composition, homogeneity, and the absence of “traces of detonation”.
gelatin powder
Application
These days, powders based only on nitrocellulose are known as monobasic, and cordite-like powders are known as dibasic. Tribasic cordites (Cordite N and NQ) with the addition of nitroguanidine were also developed, originally used in large guns of naval warships, but found their way into tank forces, and now also used in field artillery. The main advantage of tribasic powders, in comparison with dual-basic ones, is the significantly lower temperature of the powder gases with a similar efficiency. The prospects for the further use of gunpowders containing nitroguanidine are associated with small-caliber aviation and anti-aircraft guns with a high rate of fire.
Smokeless powder allowed the production of modern semi-automatic and automatic weapons. Black powder left a large amount of solid products (40-50% by weight of gunpowder) in gun barrels. The main solid combustion products of black powder, polysulfides (K2Sn, where n=2-6) and potassium sulfide (K2S), attract moisture and hydrolyze to potassium alkali and hydrogen sulfide. During the combustion of smokeless powders, no more than 0.1 - 0.5% of solid products are formed, which made it possible to automatically reload weapons using a variety of moving parts. It is worth considering that the combustion products of all smokeless powders contain a lot of nitrogen oxides, which increases their corrosive effect on the metal of the weapon.
Single- and double-base smokeless powders now make up the bulk of propellant explosives used in small arms. They are so common that most uses of the word "gunpowder" refer specifically to smokeless powder, particularly when referring to handguns and artillery. Smoke powders are used as MBB only in underbarrel grenade launchers, flare guns and some cartridges for smoothbore weapons.
In some cases, for example, in a number of artisanal hand grenades and improvised artillery shells, smokeless powder can also be used as a high explosive, for which the loading density is adjusted to a value corresponding to the detonation, and powerful detonators are used. Unlike many explosives, a blasting cap is not required to use smokeless powder, any igniter is sufficient. The efficiency of using smokeless powders as an explosive agent, in the event of ignition, is comparable to the efficiency of using mine black powder. When using powerful detonators (in practice, at least 400-600 gr. TNT), the efficiency is at the level of most individual explosives.
Instability and stabilization
Nitrocellulose decomposes over time with the release of nitrogen oxides, which catalyze the further breakdown of gunpowder components. In the process of decomposition reactions, heat is released, which, in the case of long-term storage of a large amount of gunpowder or storage of gunpowder at high temperatures (in practice, above 25 * C), may be sufficient for self-ignition.
Monobasic nitrocellulose powders are the most susceptible to degradation; dibasic and tribasic decompose more slowly, which is associated with a higher content of chemical resistance stabilizers and their more uniform distribution in the volume of gunpowder, since nitroglycerin and other plasticizers contribute to the transfer of nitrocellulose into a state of homogeneous plastic. Acidic chemical decomposition products (mainly nitrogen oxides, nitrous and nitric acids) of energy-rich components of gunpowder can corrode the metals of the case, bullet and primer of loaded ammunition or the metals of the powder packaging when stored separately.
To avoid the accumulation of acid decomposition products in the composition of gunpowder, stabilizers are added, the most popular of which are
Gunpowder is an integral element that is used to equip cartridges. Without the invention of this substance, mankind would never have known about firearms.
But few people are familiar with the history of the appearance of gunpowder. And it turns out that it was invented quite by accident. And then for a long time they were used only to launch fireworks.
The advent of gunpowder
This substance was invented in China. Nobody knows the exact date of the appearance of black powder, which is also called black. However, this happened around the 8th century. BC. In those days, the emperors of China were very concerned about their own health. They wanted to live long and even dreamed of immortality. To do this, the emperors encouraged the work of Chinese alchemists who tried to discover the magic elixir. Of course, we all know that mankind never received the miraculous liquid. However, the Chinese, showing their perseverance, conducted many experiments, while mixing a variety of substances. They did not lose hope to fulfill the imperial order. But sometimes the tests ended in unpleasant incidents. One of them occurred after the alchemists mixed saltpeter, coal and some other components. A researcher unknown to history when testing a new substance received flames and smoke. The invented formula was even recorded in the Chinese chronicle.
For a long period of time, black powder was only used for fireworks. However, the Chinese went further. They stabilized the formula of this substance and learned how to use it for explosions.
In the 11th century the first gunpowder weapon in history was invented. These were combat rockets, in which the gunpowder first ignited, and then it exploded. This gunpowder weapon was used during the sieges of the fortress walls. However, in those days it had a more psychological effect on the enemy than a damaging effect. The most powerful weapon invented by ancient Chinese explorers were clay hand bombs. They exploded and showered everything around with fragments of shards.
Conquest of Europe
From China, black powder began to spread around the world. It appeared in Europe in the 11th century. It was brought here by Arab merchants who sold rockets for fireworks. The Mongols began to use this substance for combat purposes. They used black powder to take the previously impregnable castles of the knights. The Mongols used a rather simple, but at the same time effective technology. They dug under the walls and laid a powder mine there. Exploding, this military weapon easily punched a hole in even the thickest barriers.
In 1118, the first cannons appeared in Europe. They were used by the Arabs during the capture of Spain. In 1308, powder cannons played a decisive role in the capture of the Gibraltar fortress. Then they were used by the Spaniards, who adopted these weapons from the Arabs. After that, the manufacture of powder cannons began throughout Europe. Russia was no exception.
Obtaining pyroxylin
Black powder until the end of the 19th century. they loaded mortars and squeaks, flintlocks and muskets, as well as other military weapons. But at the same time, scientists did not stop their research to improve this substance. An example of this is the experiments of Lomonosov, who established a rational ratio of all components of the powder mixture. History also remembers the unsuccessful attempt to replace scarce saltpeter with berthollet salt, which was undertaken by Claude Louis Bertole. The result of this replacement was numerous explosions. Berthollet salt, or sodium chlorate, proved to be a very active oxidizing agent.
A new milestone in the history of powder production began in 1832. It was then that the French chemist A. Bracono first obtained nitrocellulose, or priroxylin. This substance is an ester of nitric acid and cellulose. The molecule of the latter contains a large number of hydroxyl groups, which react with nitric acid.
The properties of pyroxylin have been investigated by many scientists. So, in 1848, Russian engineers A.A. Fadeev and G.I. Hess found that this substance is several times more powerful than the black powder invented by the Chinese. There were even attempts to use pyroxylin for shooting. However, they ended in failure, since the porous and loose cellulose had a heterogeneous composition and burned at an inconsistent rate. Attempts to compress pyroxylin also ended in failure. During this process, the substance often ignited.
Obtaining pyroxylin powder
Who Invented Smokeless Powder? In 1884, the French chemist J. Viel created a monolithic substance based on pyroxylin. This is the first smokeless powder in the history of mankind. To obtain it, the researcher used the ability of pyroxylin to increase in volume, being in a mixture of alcohol and ether. In this case, a soft mass was obtained, which was then pressed, plates or tapes were made from it, and then subjected to drying. The main part of the solvent thus evaporated. Its insignificant volume was preserved in pyroxylin. It continued to function as a plasticizer.
This mass is the basis of smokeless powder. Its volume in this explosive is about 80-95%. In contrast to the previously obtained cellulose, pyroxylin gunpowder showed its ability to burn at a constant rate strictly in layers. That is why it is still used for small arms to this day.
Advantages of the new substance
Viel's white powder was a real revolutionary discovery in the field of small arms firearms. And there were several reasons explaining this fact:
1. Gunpowder practically did not produce smoke, while the explosive used earlier, after several shots fired, significantly narrowed the fighter's field of view. Only strong gusts of wind could get rid of the emerging clouds of smoke when using black powder. In addition, the revolutionary invention made it possible not to give out the position of a fighter.
2. Viel's gunpowder allowed the bullet to fly out at a higher speed. Because of this, its trajectory was more direct, which significantly increased the accuracy of fire and its range, which was about 1000 m.
3. Due to the large power characteristics, smokeless powder was used in smaller quantities. Ammunition has become much lighter, which made it possible to increase their number when moving the army.
4. Equipping cartridges with pyroxylin allowed them to work even when wet. Ammunition, which was based on black powder, must have been protected from moisture.
Viel gunpowder was successfully tested in the Lebel rifle, which was immediately adopted by the French army. Hastened to apply the invention and other European countries. The first of these were Germany and Austria. New weapons in these states were introduced in 1888.
Nitroglycerine gunpowder
Soon, researchers received a new substance for military weapons. They became nitroglycerin smokeless powder. Its other name is ballistite. The basis of such smokeless powder was also nitrocellulose. However, its amount in the explosive was reduced to 56-57 percent. In this case, liquid trinitroglycerin served as a plasticizer. Such gunpowder turned out to be very powerful, and it is worth saying that it still finds its use in rocket troops and artillery.
pyrocollodic gunpowder
At the end of the 19th century Mendeleev proposed his recipe for a smokeless explosive. A Russian scientist has found a way to get soluble nitrocellulose. He called it pyrocollodium. The resulting substance emitted the maximum amount of gaseous products. Pyrocollodic gunpowder has been successfully tested in guns of various calibers, which were carried out at the marine test site.
However, Lomonosov's merits to military affairs and the manufacture of gunpowder are not only in this. He made an important improvement in the technology for the production of explosives. The scientist proposed to dehydrate nitrocellulose not by drying, but with the help of alcohol. This made the production of gunpowder safer. In addition, the quality of the nitrocellulose itself was improved, since less resistant products were washed out of it with the help of alcohol.
Modern usage
Currently, gunpowder, which is based on nitrocellulose, is used in modern semi-automatic and automatic weapons. Unlike black powder, it practically does not leave solid combustion products in the gun barrels. This made it possible to carry out automatic reloading of weapons when using a large number of moving mechanisms and parts in it.
Various varieties of smokeless powder are the main part of propellant explosives that are used in small arms. They are so widespread that, as a rule, the word "gunpowder" means smokeless. The substance, invented by ancient Chinese alchemists, is only used in flares, underbarrel grenade launchers and in some cartridges designed for smoothbore weapons.
As for the hunting environment, it is customary to use a pyroxylin variety of smokeless powder. Only sometimes nitroglycerin species find their application, but they are not particularly popular.
Composition
What are the components of an explosive used in hunting? The composition of smokeless powder has nothing to do with its smoky appearance. It mainly consists of pyroxylin. It is in the explosive is 91-96 percent. In addition, hunting gunpowder contains from 1.2 to 5% of volatile substances such as water, alcohol and ether. To increase stability during storage, 1 to 1.5 percent diphenylamine stabilizer is included here. Phlegmatizers slow down the burning of the outer layers of powder grains. Them in smokeless hunting powder is from 2 to 6 percent. An insignificant part (0.2-0.3%) is flame retardant additives and graphite.
The form
Pyroxylin, used for the production of smokeless powder, is treated with an oxidizing agent, the basis of which is an alcohol-ether mixture. The end result is a homogeneous jelly-like substance. The resulting mixture is mechanically processed. As a result, a granular structure of the substance is obtained, the color of which varies from yellow-brown to pure black. Sometimes within the same batch a different shade of gunpowder is possible. To give it a uniform color, the mixture is processed with powdered graphite. This process also makes it possible to level the stickiness of the grains.
Properties
Smokeless powder is distinguished by the ability of uniform gas formation and combustion. This, in turn, when changing the size of the fraction, allows you to control and adjust the combustion processes.
Among the attractive properties of smokeless powder, the following are noted:
Low hygroscopicity and insolubility in water;
- greater effect and purity than the smoky counterpart;
- preservation of properties even at high humidity;
- the possibility of drying;
- the absence of smoke after the shot, which is produced with a relatively quiet sound.
However, it should be borne in mind that white powder:
It emits carbon monoxide when fired, which is dangerous to humans;
- negatively reacts to temperature changes;
- contributes to faster wear of the weapon due to the creation of high temperature in the barrel;
- must be stored in sealed packaging due to the likelihood of weathering;
- has a limited shelf life;
- can be flammable at high temperatures;
- not used in weapons, the passport of which indicates this.
The oldest Russian gunpowder
Hunting cartridges have been equipped with this explosive since 1937. Gunpowder "Falcon" has a sufficiently large power that meets the developed world standards. It should be noted that the composition of this substance was changed in 1977. This was done due to the establishment of more stringent rules for this type of explosive elements.
Gunpowder "Falcon" is recommended for use by novice hunters who prefer to self-load cartridges. After all, this substance is able to forgive them a mistake with a sample. Gunpowder "Sokol" is used by many domestic manufacturers of cartridges, such as Polieks, Vetter, Azot and others.
Smokeless gunpowder Mendeleev
It is believed that Mendeleev invented 40-degree vodka - he diluted alcohol with water in the appropriate proportion. In fact, in 1865 he defended his doctoral dissertation "Discourse on the combination of alcohol with water." Forty-degree vodka was produced even before his dissertation. The merit of Mendeleev is that he compiled a table of the "Values of the specific gravity of aqueous solutions of alcohol", it was his calculations that were used in the production of alcoholic beverages.
In his rich biography there is another fact that few people know, at one time he was kept in the strictest confidence - the invention of smokeless gunpowder for artillery. In 1890, he was approached by the Minister of Marine N.M. Chikhachev with a proposal to take part in the development of types of smokeless powder for firing artillery pieces in the fleet. Such gunpowder was already in service with Great Britain and France. The basis of most smokeless powders was pyroxylin, a product of processing cotton wool with a mixture of nitric and sulfuric acids. However, information about the technology for creating pyroxylin was kept in the strictest confidence. Mendeleev set about solving this problem.
Soon he and two other specialists were sent abroad, to London, then to Paris. In London, Mendeleev had many acquaintances among chemists. He visited various laboratories, he was even taken to shooting. But the technology for making smokeless powder remained a secret. In Paris, the situation repeated itself. He attended a meeting of the Paris Academy of Sciences, received samples of smokeless powder. But how to establish the production of smokeless powder suitable for artillery firing? What did Mendeleev do?
There is a version that Mendeleev settled down near one of the gunpowder factories in Paris and began to observe the arrival of freight cars with various raw materials along the railway line: nitrogen, sulfuric acid, alcohol, oxygen and their exit with finished products - shells. After studying the statistics, he came to the conclusion of what proportions of explosives French smokeless powder could consist of.
Soon the secret report lay on the minister's desk. Mendeleev was invited to work at the Marine Scientific and Technical Laboratory, where he conducted his experiments. And in the same 1890, he discovered pyrocollodium, which he proposed as a smokeless powder, superior to foreign pyroxylin. Shootings from 47-millimeter caliber guns, carried out in 1892, showed the remarkable properties of pyrocollodium. But bureaucratic leapfrog intervened, and Mendeleev's pyrocollodic gunpowder was not adopted by the land department. The saddest thing is that the manufacturing process was not carefully classified, and soon pyrocollodic gunpowder was at the disposal of Western countries.
Already after the death of the scientist during the First World War, Russia was forced to buy from the United States a huge amount of smokeless gunpowder, which was, in fact, Mendeleev's pyrocollodic gunpowder.
black powder(aka black powder) consists of three components - saltpeter, sulfur and coal. Proportions - 75% potassium nitrate, 15% coal, 10% sulfur. And over time, they varied in very wide, I must say, indicators. For example, in medieval France the proportions were 2/1/1. And nothing, the guns somehow fired, the task was carried out. And only from 1650 was at least some normal standard established.
Types of gunpowder
Relatively speaking, modern gunpowder divided into smoky and smokeless. black powder- a direct descendant of the same mixture that the Chinese came up with. Smokeless powder- a logical development of the idea of smoky gunpowder - when it burns, gas is released, and not soot (solid particles, i.e. smoke), more powerful, but also more sensitive to external conditions.
Both black powder and smokeless powder existed and exist in rather interesting varieties, depending mainly on the quality and quantity of coal. And here is the really interesting part.
If standard firewood is annealed at a high temperature - about 350-450 degrees, then we will get black coal. Easily crumbles, black-bluish on a chip, burns without a flame. And it will be quite small. It will come out of it black powder.
If standard firewood is annealed at a temperature of 280 - 320 degrees, then we get brown coal. It grinds worse, reddish on a chip, when burned, it gives a flame and bluish smoke with red sparks. Its 2 times more. Raw material for brown powder.
If standard firewood is annealed at 150-180 degrees, then we get chocolate charcoal. Almost does not crumble, greasy to the touch and in even larger quantities. Tellingly, it must cool without air access.
Brown and chocolate powder use more in artillery, as it is much more powerful. Seriously, this annealing nerd is worth it.
There is also a special sulfur free powder, in which, as you might guess, there is no sulfur at all. And what is typical for sulfurless powder just used chocolate charcoal. Because it already holds and does not crumble - the grains can choke, but do not break.
And there is white powder- He's just dumb. This is a special perversion, which is now used only in the rocket business. Composition - 75 percent potassium nitrate, 25 percent ... sugar. The composition is stable, burns well, detonates as it should.
AND yellow powder. 55% saltpeter, 18% sulfur, and 27% anhydrous potash or potassium carbonate. Piece is more expensive than black powder, is more difficult to prepare, more demanding on safety, but extremely promising due to stability and power.
Method for determining the type of gunpowder and its quality
There is a pretty obvious way. gunpowder checks, allowing you to determine its type, and purpose, and possible damage. We will need gunpowder, a small strip of paper and a stopwatch.
We take the paper and fold it in half - we get such a "groove". We measure a length of 5 cm on it, put two stripes. And we fall asleep between them 0.25 grams of gunpowder. We set fire to the end of the paper, and when the fire reaches the gunpowder, we turn on the stopwatch. The second time we mark the time when the gunpowder burned out. Yeah, we need a good response. And then we compare the results.
- 0.5 sec - black powder
- 1.6 sec - black powder or smokeless powder prone to detonation
- 1.8 - 2.2 sec - good smokeless hunting powder
- 2.3- 2.4 sec - spoiled smokeless hunting powder
- 4 sec - pistol powder
- More than 7 seconds - rifle powder
Oh yes, we won’t be able to give specific recipes for these types of gunpowder, since even the method of preparing the most common black gunpowder is banned. Roskomnadzor is on the lookout, you understand. And it doesn’t matter that on the same Wikipedia it’s all laid out in more than detail, with almost step-by-step instructions. And that it costs nothing to find English-language information on the manufacture of black powder and run it through a Google translator. But no, the faithful defenders inexorably stand guard over the Motherland.
Explosives have had a huge impact on the development of mankind. These include smoky and smokeless powders. The advent of smokeless powder was a revolution in military affairs. Within a few decades, small arms and artillery weapons of all countries have completely changed, new types of weapons have appeared. Work on the creation of gunpowder led to the development of the chemical industry, the emergence of new artificial materials.
A great contribution to the production of gunpowder in Russia was made by our brilliant chemist Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev.
D. I. Mendeleev combined the depth of theoretical thinking with a large scope of practical activity. His scientific activity covered numerous branches of knowledge. Of the 431 published works, 40 are devoted to chemistry, 106 physical chemistry, 99 physics, 22 geography, 99 technology and industry, 36 economic and social issues and 29 other topics. “I myself wonder what I did not do in my scientific life,” he admitted.
The naval and military ministries entrusted Mendeleev (1891) with the development of the question of smokeless powder, and he (after a trip abroad) in 1892 brilliantly fulfilled this task. The "pyrocollodium" he proposed turned out to be an excellent type of smokeless powder, moreover, universal and easily adaptable to any firearm.
I wanted to look into the history of the invention of gunpowder, consider the types and types of gunpowder, their structure, properties and application, and find out what the merit of our compatriot is.
Chapter I. Review of studies on the history of gunpowders, their use, structure and properties.
§one. The history of the use of black powder in Russia.
Apart from the artificial preparation of fire in the prehistoric period, it is safe to say that no invention based on chemical processes has had a greater impact on the development of mankind than explosives. The first of the explosives appeared black (black powder). It is most likely that he appeared in China, and then became known to the Arabs.
Gunpowder is an explosive substance and is used mainly in firearms to give the projectile the necessary speed. As a military weapon, black powder began to be used in Europe, including Russia in the 14th century. This type of gunpowder remained the only explosive for mining until the 19th century.
The use of gunpowder and the appearance of firearms in Russia is associated with the name of Dmitry Donskoy. For the first time in Russia, gunpowder and firearms were used on August 24, 1382, during the storming of the Moscow Kremlin by the Tatars led by Khan Takhtamysh. Here, for the first time, the first guns, called mattresses, are mentioned. One of the very first Russian mattresses is kept in the Artillery Museum in Leningrad.
At first, gunpowder was brought from foreigners, but very soon they began to make it in Russia. "Potion" in Moscow was produced in such quantities that it caused the famous gunpowder fire, from which the entire capital burned out in 1422.
The manufacture of gunpowder received a powerful impetus under Ivan the Terrible in the war with the Kazan Khanate. Later, only the use of gunpowder ensured the conquest of the Siberian Khanate. A new era of Russian powder making began under Peter I in 1682-1725. , a window to Europe had to be cut through not with an ax, but with gunpowder.
But in the 19th century, with the development of military equipment and weapons, black powder used in military affairs could no longer meet the requirements that were placed on it. It reached its ceiling many centuries ago and, against the background of the technical achievements of the 19th century, began to become obsolete. Therefore, since the middle of the 19th century, feverish searches have been going on in the research laboratories of the largest countries of the world to create smokeless powder.
§2. History of smokeless powder.
The issue of creating smokeless powders in the 19th century was dealt with by a large number of researchers in different countries. Scientists have established that the basis of smokeless powder was nitrocellulose. A large number of experiments have been made between products of plant origin (starch, paper, cotton wool, sawdust) and nitric acid.
In 1864, the German captain Eduard Schulze invented a method for obtaining wood smokeless powder from nitrocellulose (nitrated sawdust). Schulze's gunpowder was patented in Austria, and was produced there under the name nitroxylin. Schulze gunpowder was first used for hunting rifles. Shotgun loose charge of a hunting rifle has little resistance, and therefore there is little pressure in the barrel, but the speed of the bullet and the accuracy of the shot are enhanced, compared with the use of black powder.
For rifled military-style weapons, gunpowder turned out to be unsuitable for being too strong; it was too fast-burning and, with a lot of resistance from a heavy combat bullet, developed too much pressure in the barrel. This led to a rupture of the trunk.
Engineer Vielle in France, as a result of his experiments, began to completely gelatinize nitrocellulose with ether, and after the solvent evaporated, finely chopped pieces were made from the resulting mass. In the mid-eighties, Vielle used pyroxylin to make colloidal-type smokeless powder. During combustion, pyroxylin powder gave not three hundred, but eight hundred liters of gas per kilogram and made it possible, at the same pressure in the barrel and with a smaller charge, to double the initial velocity of the projectile.
Soon, Vielle's smokeless powder was used for military and hunting weapons, but for this it was necessary to create a new cartridge with a reduced-caliber bullet covered with a hard shell; to make a solid barrel with a harder bore and steeper rifling in the barrel than was the case with black powder and soft lead bullets. The result was a rifle with excellent ballistic properties, significantly superior to the ballistics of rifles of the previous type, chambered for black powder. Initially, a new rifle appeared in France.
By the time smokeless powder was invented, the basic principles for making smokeless explosives were also understood; the necessary raw materials - nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin - were discovered. Nevertheless, obtaining smokeless powder turned out to be the most difficult scientific and technical task. The production of gunpowder was very dangerous, fires and explosions in the gunpowder factories of that time were constant.
In Russia, the production of smokeless powder had to be organized almost independently, and this task was completed quickly and in a timely manner. Who does not know the famous Russian rifle "of the sample of one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one, the fraction of the thirtieth" - the legendary three-ruler, sung in so many soldiers' songs, honestly and blamelessly serving in our army for sixty years?
The trilinear was the first firearm designed specifically for smokeless powder. Already at the end of 1888, the first Russian smokeless powder (such as pyroxylin) was obtained.
The situation was worse with artillery powder, especially for large-caliber naval guns. Pyroxylin gunpowder, in those years, could not yet be obtained in the form of sufficiently large grains.
§3. The work of D. I. Mendeleev on the creation of smokeless powder.
In 1890, the Minister of Marine Chikhachev turned to D. I. Mendeleev for help in creating smokeless powder. Mendeleev understood the importance of the case offered to him for the defense of the country and, despite the insults inflicted on him, agreed.
First of all, Mendeleev went to Paris and London to get acquainted with the gunpowder business of Europe. While abroad, Mendeleev drew attention to an extremely dangerous operation - drying pyroxylin gunpowder, causing frequent fires with a large number of victims. The scientist proposed replacing the drying of pyroxylin by dehydrating it with alcohol, which is completely safe. Since then, all over the world, this stage of the production of pyroxylin has been carried out only according to the Mendeleev method.
But the main thing Mendeleev is working on during these months is obtaining a new type of gunpowder. The logical course of his thought was something like this. Pyroxylin - nitrocellulose containing thirteen and a half percent nitrogen - explodes well, but dissolves poorly, and therefore it is very difficult to make gunpowder from it. Colloxilin, with its eleven percent nitrogen, is perfectly soluble, but is not a very strong explosive. To do this, he does not have enough oxygen, introduced along with nitrogen. Now, if it were possible to obtain a product that is still soluble like collodion, but already explosive, like pyroxylin. And Mendeleev created such a product, calling it pyrocollodium, because it combined the properties of both pyroxylin and collodion.
Pyrocollodium contained twelve and a half percent nitrogen, possessed a powerful explosive force and dissolved in an alcohol-ether mixture, "like sugar." It turned out to be an excellent starting material in the manufacture of gunpowder for weapons of any caliber. Until 1893, intensive work was underway to test and verify the new gunpowder. The Naval Artillery Commission, during experimental firing, determined that the channel of the twelve-inch gun "was so clean that it did not stain a handkerchief" and that the gunpowder showed "incomparable ballistic properties." The head of the experiments, Admiral S. O. Makarov, congratulated Mendeleev by telegram on his outstanding results.
But later, things stalled. Differences arose between the military and naval ministries. The Okhta Gunpowder Factory showed no interest in the new gunpowder and declared that "pyroxylin gunpowder is completely identical with pyrocollodium" and that there is "no novelty" in the latter. Mendeleev was forced to leave the laboratory he had created. Mendeleev's gunpowder did not find recognition in his homeland. Orders for large quantities of artillery powder were transferred to Germany. The tsarist government soon had to pay dearly for this short-sighted policy. During the war with Germany, pyrocollodium powder had to be ordered from. America, because already in 1895 enterprising American officers Bernadou and Convers took out a patent for pyrocollodium gunpowder. They did not hide the fact that the basis of their invention was the work of a Russian scientist.
§4. Classification of gunpowders and their structure.
Gunpowder is used in firearms to communicate the required speed to a bullet or projectile. Two types of gunpowder are known.
1. Mixed gunpowder (heterogeneous systems consisting of fuel and oxidizer). The very first mixed powder is smoky or black powder, consisting of potassium nitrate (KNO3) which is an oxidizing agent, sulfur (S) and charcoal (C).
2. Plasticized systems based on nitrocellulose (smokeless powders). They are divided into three groups:
Pyroxylin gunpowder;
cordites;
Ballistics.
Pyroxylin gunpowder was obtained by the Frenchman P. Viel in 1884. Pyroxylin is complete cellulose trinitrate (cellulose nitrate). It is obtained by the esterification of cellulose with a mixture of nitric and sulfuric acids.
n + 3nHNO3 = n + 3nH2O
The product of complete nitration (trinitrocellulose) must contain 14.1% nitrogen according to the formula. In practice, a product with a slightly lower nitrogen content (about 12.5%) is obtained. The nitrogen content in pyroxylin powder is 12.2 - 12.5%. Trinitrocellulose is obtained by nitrating loosened and dried cellulose with a nitrating mixture. The resulting product is repeatedly washed with water and soda solution (to neutralize acid residues), again with water and dehydrated (for example: with ethyl alcohol).
Cellulose nitrate, in which 20 - 30% of hydroxyl groups remain free is called colloxylin and corresponds in composition to dinitrocellulose. It has a nitrogen content of 10.7 - 12.2%. It dissolves well, but is not a strong explosive.
n + 2nHNO3 = n + 2nH2O
In 1887, Alfred Nobel (Sweden), a specialist in explosives, created cordite-type nitroglycerine gunpowder called ballistite. Nobel used for the manufacture of ballistite soluble pyroxylin, gelatinized with nitroglycerin with an admixture of camphor. In a mixture with cellulose nitrate, glycerin forms a gelatinous mass of "explosive jelly", which does not explode, but burns relatively slowly. Ballistic powders in the 30s of the XX century found application in rocket projectiles.
§five. Properties of smoke and smokeless powders and their application.
The advantages of smokeless powder over black powder are undeniable, but the old fighter has not yet retired. Smoke powder is still used in military affairs for the manufacture of fire-conducting ("Fickford") cord and some detonators. It is widely used by hunters, because its burning rate is uniform and almost does not increase with increasing pressure and temperature. This property of gunpowder excludes the possibility of rupture of gun barrels. In addition, it almost does not change during storage and in dry rooms can retain its qualities for many years. Black powder is indispensable in pyrotechnic compositions and fireworks. Often it is used in mining as well. In this case, it is traditionally called not smoky, but mine. Mine powder is very convenient in quarries when extracting expensive decorative stone. After all, marble, facing granite, porphyry should not be crushed like ore, but chipped off in large blocks so that they can be cut into slabs. Here the "low power" of gunpowder turns into its dignity, not its disadvantage. So black powder will throw, crush and shine for a long time, setting an example in versatility and longevity.
Fur hunters in our region quite often use black powder to equip shotgun charges, since it is cheaper and can be stored in a dry hunting hut for years without changing its properties. Shooting is carried out at a short distance (up to 50 meters), the shots are usually single, and the smoke formed during the shot does not interfere. On the contrary, a large amount of smoke when fired helps the hunter. The hunter shoots with a blank shot (without a shot charge) into a hole, a rocky placer, a hollow, and the resulting smoke makes the animal leave its shelter. Smokeless powder is used in cartridges for rifled weapons, or cartridges for smoothbore weapons are equipped with it and are used to kill a large animal at long firing distances, or where a powerful charge is required.
Of course, science does not stand still, new varieties of gunpowder appear from time to time, but the production of pyroxylin gunpowder is based on the discovery of pyrocollodium by D. I. Mendeleev in 1892.
Chapter II. Experimental confirmation of the properties of smoky and smokeless (pyroxylin) gunpowder.
In laboratory conditions, I obtained black (smoky) and smokeless (pyroxylin) gunpowder by experimental method. The work was carried out in compliance with all safety regulations.
Experience 1. Obtaining and burning black powder.
Equipment and reagents: clean mortar and pestle, iron or ceramic stand, potassium nitrate, sulfur, charcoal.
Smoke powder was obtained from a mixture of three substances: potassium nitrate, sulfur, charcoal in the ratio (%): potassium nitrate - 75, charcoal - 15, sulfur - 10. All substances were ground in a separate mortar, the mixture was thoroughly mixed. A pinch of the mixture was placed on a ceramic stand and set on fire with a splinter. When the mixture ignited, a large amount of smoke was obtained from unburned particles of gunpowder, a large amount of unburned solids (soot) remained.
3KNO3 + 3C + S = K2S + 3CO2 + N2
Interesting fact. In the last century, all major battles (Borodino, the Battle of Waterloo, etc.) ended in heavy rains, as particles of powder smoke acted as condensation nuclei, on which water vapor was deposited and accumulated, and it rained.
Experience 2. Obtaining and burning smokeless (pyroxylin) gunpowder.
Equipment and reagents: beaker, glass rod, water bath, filter paper, porcelain cup, splinter, nitric acid, sulfuric acid, absorbent cotton, paper.
The nitrating mixture was prepared in a beaker as follows: 5 ml of nitric acid and 10 ml of sulfuric acid were mixed. The mixture was slightly cooled and a lump of absorbent cotton was placed in it. The glass was heated to a temperature of 70˚C in a water bath. After 5 - 8 minutes, the cotton wool was washed with water, squeezed between layers of filter paper and dried in a porcelain cup in a boiling water bath. The experiment was done with two types of cotton wool: cotton and artificial (obtained from wood). Cotton wool is soft to the touch; cotton wool obtained from wood creaks unpleasantly between the fingers.
Both samples were burned in a fume hood. Cotton wool in both cases burns out instantly, without the formation of smoke.
VI. Results and conclusions.
Having studied the theoretical material on gunpowder, and having made experimentally smoky and smokeless gunpowder, I compared their properties and came to the following conclusions.
Smoke powder is a heterogeneous system (a mixture of three substances - potassium nitrate, sulfur and charcoal), consisting of a fuel (S, C) and an oxidizing agent (KN + 5O3). When burned, it produces thick white smoke and a large amount of soot in guns. Only 40% of it turns into gases, the rest goes into soot. Since the force of the gases pushing the bullet is small, the firing range is small. Large contamination of the bore with powder deposits after several shots noticeably worsens the accuracy of the battle.
Nitrocellulose-based smokeless powder has many advantages over black powder. There is no smoke when shooting, so the shooter does not reveal himself to the enemy. Smokeless powder during combustion forms 2.8 times more gases, so the initial velocity of the projectile doubles. Due to the high speed of the projectile, the accuracy of fire and the range of the shot are higher. In this case, there is an extremely small contamination of the bore with powder soot. When firing cartridges with smokeless powder, the sound of the shot and the recoil of the gun are reduced. But for smokeless powder, it was necessary to create a new cartridge of reduced caliber, covered with a hard shell and make a solid barrel with a harder bore and steeper rifling in the barrel.
With all the advantages of smokeless powder, it is too early to write off smoky (black) powder. Currently, it is used very widely: for the manufacture of "fickford" cord, it is used by hunters and fishermen. Black powder is indispensable in pyrotechnics and fireworks, and is often used in mining.
Smokeless powder in military affairs has practically replaced black powder. It is widely used for filling small arms cartridges and artillery charges, as well as as fuel for rockets.
Despite the fact that more than 100 years have passed since the creation of pyrocollodium by D. I. Mendeleev, until now its discovery has been widely used throughout the world in the production of gunpowder.
