Nitrocellulose in explosives: properties and chemical characterization

Abstract

Nitrocellulose, discovered by Schönbein in 1846, has different applications depending mainly on its manufacturing process and its degree of nitration. The nitrocellulose with a high degree of nitration (> 12 %) is used in smokeless powder and dynamites. To date, few studies on characterization and analytical determination of nitrocellulose in explosives have been performed. With this objective, spectrometric and separation techniques, as well as thermal analysis, are very often employed. Nevertheless, the enormous chemical and structural heterogeneity of the nitrocellulose makes its analysis a current challenging task.