Fuel Research Aluminium Stearate (FRAS), is mixture of

chemical substance A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., wi ...

s, used as an incendiary agent by the United Kingdom during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It is hygroscopic fuel, composed of "aluminium stearate",

petrol Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...

, and peptized by

xylenol Xylenols are organic compounds with the formula (CH3)2C6H3OH. They are volatile colorless solids or oily liquids. They are derivatives of phenol with two methyl groups at various positions relative to the hydroxyl group. Six isomers exist, of whi ...

, developed by the Fuel Research Station of the

Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, abbreviated DSIR was the name of several British Empire organisations founded after the 1923 Imperial Conference to foster intra-Empire trade and development. * Department of Scientific and Industria ...

. In the conflict in Europe, it was the fuel of the M1A1 flamethrower.McKinney 1949. Delivered ready to use. It was used as fuel for individual flamethrowers, for the Churchill Crocodile flamethrower tank (standard fuel), and was studied as a precursor in the 5B incendiary paste used in the flame-fougasse. It was adopted by the

Canadian Army The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also respo ...

in 1942 and by the British

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

1943. The Australian army leaned towards the adoption of the FRAS, however, due to the instability of the FRAS in the tropical climate, it was discarded.

History

After the start of the Second World War, concerned with the development, research and technical mastery of incendiary mixtures, the Mixture Committee was formed in the second half of the year 1940 by the Director of Fuel Research, Dr. Frank Sturdy Sinnatt. The development of material, such as a substitute for rubber, was started in January 1942, in several works, by several members of the committee. The initial component was the most commercially available sodium stearate (FRSS), but the gel underwent syneresis. It was then opted for its respective aluminium salt. The work on this component was the most important. The gelling power of aluminium stearate has been known. In early investigative work, the standard component was rubber, being the constituent in several incendiary mixtures. Its anomalous viscosity being essential for flamethrower fuel. The use of this component deteriorated with the Japanese take over of Malaysia in February 1942. With this series of events, efforts were directed towards the feasibility and standardization of aluminium stearate. The initial results of the development of the thickened fuel turned out to be unsatisfactory but an additive remedied the deficiencies of the gel. After this resolution, a special investigation into the manufacture of soaps was carried out, solving the problems of the thickener. Work with FRAS gels was then carried out at the Fuel Research Station until fuel production was taken over by the

Ministry of Supply The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. A separate ministry, however, was responsible for aircr ...

. The Fuel Research Station continued to serve as an advisor on the industrial scale production and improvement of FRAS and its precursors, of which around 41 million litres were manufactured and used in the European theatre. The use of aluminum stearate as a flame fuel thickener, as well as the general technique of making FRAS, was already used by the Soviets before.

Military use

The service fuel has undergone various degrees of requirements, both due to the seasons and the war zone. In general, production plants prepared two types of fuel for flamethrowers. FRAS was mainly used in Europe The British fuel was widely used by American forces as "Fuel M1A1" , later redesignated as "Flame Thrower Fuel, Heavy No. 1" and some units used it in preference to napalm. The napalm gel had a tendency to channel in fuel tanks, resulting in incomplete exhaustion of the fuel. Due to Britain's economic condition, K fuel was in short supply, particularly when the US Third Army landed on the continent. FRAS was studied as a unitary component of fougasse mines, which gave unsatisfactory results when compared with alkaline and alkaline earth ion gels (Ca²⁺ and Na⁺).Cawley et al.

Transport and handling

The batches of fuel were conditioned in drums, then stored in open spaces and in a stacked manner. The transfer process, to flamethrowers or other devices, were problematic, particularly for mechanized flamethrower fuel. The process of working with the drum for Crocodile proved to be especially laborious, requiring the construction of a high structure and a side opening in the drum to facilitate its handling. US Army flamethrower users were given a 5 US gallon "

Jerrycan A jerrycan (also written as jerry can or jerrican) is a robust liquid container made from pressed steel (and more recently, high density polyethylene). It was designed in Germany in the 1930s for military use to hold of fuel, and saw widesp ...

Preparation

During World War II, Gel-Gas was prepared in batches using mobile plants. The process consisted of the digestion of the thickener in the liquid medium under special conditions.

Notes

References

Works cited

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External links

* * * * * * * {{cite video, url=https://film.iwmcollections.org.uk/record/1521, title=BURNING DOWN BELSEN CONCENTRATION CAMP (Part 2), people=, medium=Film, language=, publisher=

Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

, year=1945, location=, minutes=, id=Film Number: A70 337-2, isbn=, oclc=, quote=, accessdate= Incendiary weapons Flamethrowers British inventions World War II weapons