On the Further Development of Silver Nitrotetrazolate for Practical Use as a Primary Explosive

Lommel, Marcus ; Schirra, Rainer; Klapötke, Thomas M. und Stierstorfer, Jörg (18. February 2025): On the Further Development of Silver Nitrotetrazolate for Practical Use as a Primary Explosive. In: Propellants, Explosives, Pyrotechnics, Vol. 50, No. 4

Abstract

Silver nitrotetrazolate (AgNT) is a less-known but very powerful primary explosive with fast deflagration-to-detonation transition (DDT). Unfortunately, the compound never found any practical application due to its undesirable powder properties paired with a very high sensitivity toward mechanical stimuli. The adaption of conditions similar to those used in the Costain process resulted in precipitation of a new compound AgNT·¼NH3, incorporating 0.25 eq. ammonia, proven by single crystal x-ray diffraction and elemental analysis. This compound has been characterized and optimized for use as a primary explosive and shows greatly enhanced properties over common silver nitrotetrazolate.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Chemistry and Pharmacy > Department of Chemistry
• Subjects: 500 Science > 540 Chemistry
• ISSN: 0721-3115
• Language: English