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ANFO (/ ˈ æ n f oʊ / AN-foh) [1] (or AN/FO, for ammonium nitrate/fuel oil) is a widely used bulk industrial high explosive. It consists of 94% porous prilled ammonium nitrate (NH 4 NO 3 ) (AN), which acts as the oxidizing agent and absorbent for the fuel, and 6% number 2 fuel oil (FO). [ 2 ]
A water-gel explosive is a fuel-sensitized explosive mixture consisting of an aqueous ammonium nitrate solution that acts as the oxidizer. [1] Water gels that are cap-insensitive are referred to under United States safety regulations as blasting agents. Water gel explosives have a jelly-like consistency and come in sausage-like packing stapled ...
The oxygen surplus of ammonium nitrate increases the energy release of TNT during detonation. Depending on the ratio of ingredients used, amatol leaves a residue of white or grey smoke after detonation. Amatol has a lower explosive velocity and correspondingly lower brisance than TNT but is cheaper because of the lower cost of ammonium nitrate.
Examples of common binary explosives include Oxyliquit (liquid oxygen/combustible powder), ANFO (ammonium nitrate/fuel oil), Kinestik (ammonium nitrate/nitromethane), Tannerite and ammonal (ammonium nitrate/aluminum), and FIXOR (nitroethane/physical sensitizer).
Other Sprengel explosives used at various times include charcoal with liquid oxygen (an oxyliquit), "Rackarock", and ANFO ammonium nitrate (oxidiser) mixed with a fuel oil (fuel), normally diesel, kerosene, or nitromethane.
Ammonium nitrate is an important fertilizer with NPK rating 34-0-0 (34% nitrogen). [17] It is less concentrated than urea (46-0-0), giving ammonium nitrate a slight transportation disadvantage. Ammonium nitrate's advantage over urea is that it is more stable and does not rapidly lose nitrogen to the atmosphere.
Astrolite A, a secondary (and less common) type of Astrolite, is sensitized by the addition of finely powdered aluminium to the Astrolite G mixture. Though it has a lower detonation velocity (approximately 7,600 m/s) than Astrolite G, the addition of the aluminium increases both its density and explosive brisance, moderately increasing its overall effectiveness/RE Factor.
Ammonium nitrate has only 85% of the chemical energy of nitroglycerin. [ 15 ] It is rated by either "weight strength" (the amount of ammonium nitrate in the medium) or "cartridge strength" (the potential explosive strength generated by an amount of explosive of a certain density and grain size used in comparison to the explosive strength ...