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Tertiary explosives, also called blasting agents, are so insensitive to shock that they cannot be reliably detonated by practical quantities of primary explosive, and instead require an intermediate explosive booster of secondary explosive. These are often used for safety and the typically lower costs of material and handling.
A substance is an explosive compound on its own; an article is an end user explosive product. Group A: Primary explosive substance. Group B: Article containing a primary explosive substance and not containing two or more effective protective features. Some articles, such as detonators for blasting, detonator assemblies for blasting and primers ...
During the Attack of Pearl Harbor, the USS Arizona was struck with an armor-piercing bomb which penetrated the upper deck and stopped inside the forward magazine. The bomb triggered an explosion which was powerful enough to cut the Arizona in half and is considered a sympathetic detonation as there was an apparent delay between the detonation of the bomb and the contents of the forward magazine.
Modern caps use different explosives and separate primary and secondary explosive charges, but are generally very similar to the Gardner and Smith caps. Smith also invented the first satisfactory portable power supply for igniting blasting caps : a high-voltage magneto that was driven by a rack and pinion , which in turn was driven by a T ...
Secondary blast wounds may be lethal and therefore many anti-personnel explosive devices are designed to generate fast-flying fragments. Most casualties are caused by secondary injuries as shrapnels generally affect a larger area than the primary blast area, because debris can easily be propelled for hundreds or even thousands of meters.
The explosive triggering sequence or the explosive train essentially consists of an 'initiator', an 'intermediary' and the 'high explosive'. For example, a match will not cause plastic explosive to explode, but it will light a fuse coupled with a blasting cap which will detonate a primary explosive that will shock a secondary high explosive and ...
It is a secondary explosive, meaning it is more difficult to detonate than primary explosives, so dropping or igniting it will typically not cause an explosion (at standard atmospheric pressure it is difficult to ignite and burns vigorously), but is more sensitive to shock and friction than other secondary explosives such as TNT or tetryl.
ANFO is highly insensitive, making it a tertiary explosive (or a "blasting agent"). Without a sensitizer, it cannot be detonated by a typical (such as No. 8) blasting cap with the small amount of primary explosives within. A larger quantity of secondary explosive, known as a primer or a booster, must be used. [8]