NSWC/WOL/TR 75-35 



2.2 CHEMICAL COMPOSITIONS 



The explosives most commonly used for underwater explosions are 

 organic nitrated compounds with a chemical formula of the type 

 (C-H-N-O) such as TNT, HMX, RDX, Tetryl, and PETN. 2 Currently 

 several new explosives are also being used in Navy programs. These 

 explosives consist of mixtures of different organic explosives or 

 mixtures of these with metallic components. 



In this section the chemical composition of the explosion 

 products from several explosives listed above will be discussed. 

 Information on other specific explosives may be found in the 

 literature. 



2.2.1 Dissolved Gases 



The gases formed by several explosives are presented in Tables 

 1 & 2. 3 All the gases are soluble in water at various degrees. 

 The solubility depends on the temperature, pH, and salinity of the 

 water. It is possible that the concentrations of gases in water may 

 temporarily exceed their solubilities. This supersaturation creates 

 excessive total dissolved gas pressure causing undesirable effect 

 to the marine life. 



Most of the gases in the explosion products are considered 

 non-toxic, except carbon monoxide (CO) , hydrogen cyanide (HCN) , 

 chlorine (CI2) , and ammonia (NH3) , which produce adverse effects to 

 marine life even at low concentrations. 



2.2.2 Suspended Solids 



Many explosive compositions currently in use consist of metallic 

 compounds. For example, aluminum is frequently incorporated into 

 HBX-1, resulting in the formation of aluminum oxide (AI2O3) particles, 

 Zr M-4 contains zirconium metal and lead nitrate which form 

 zirconium oxide (Zr0 2 ) and lead oxide (PbO) after the explosion. 

 Carbon particles are the major suspended solid after a TNT explosion, 



2 Cole, R. H., "Underwater Explosions", Princeton University Press, 

 Princeton, New Jersey, 1948. 



Young, G. A., "Guide-Line for Evaluating the Environmental Effects 

 of Underwater Explosion Tests", Naval Ordnance Laboratory, NOLTR 

 72-211, 13 Feb 1973. 



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