Agriculture Grade Ammonium Nitrate as the Basic Ingredient of Massive Explosive Charges

Abstract

Abstract Prilled ammonium nitrate (AN) is manufactured globally in millions of tons and is mainly used as fertilizer or as the main ingredient of modern mining blasting explosives. The availability of AN poses a serious threat to public security as it enables preparation of massive explosive charges using a simple technology in order to carry out terrorist attacks. This paper examines the option of using agriculture AN manufactured in several Polish plants as the basic ingredient of explosive mixtures with liquid fuels or powdered aluminum. Fuel oil (FO), 2‐EHN and nitromethane were used as liquid fuels. Additionally, the effect of an inorganic additive (dolomite) in AN on the detonation velocity of mixtures of granulated and milled AN with various fuels was examined.