RDX (abbreviation of "Research Department eXplosive") or hexogen, among other names, is an
organic compound
In chemistry, organic compounds are generally any chemical compounds that contain carbon-hydrogen or carbon-carbon bonds. Due to carbon's ability to catenate (form chains with other carbon atoms), millions of organic compounds are known. The ...
with the formula (O2N2CH2)3. It is a white solid without smell or taste, widely used as an
explosive
An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An expl ...
. Chemically, it is classified as a
nitroamine
Nitroamines are organic compounds containing a nitro group bonded to an amine. The parent inorganic compound, where R1 = R2 = H, is nitramide
Nitramide is a chemical compound with the molecular formula H2NNO2. Organyl derivatives of nitramide, ...
alongside HMX, which is a more energetic explosive than
TNT
Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...
. It was used widely in
World War II
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 ...
and remains common in military applications.
RDX is often used in mixtures with other explosives and
plasticizer
A plasticizer ( UK: plasticiser) is a substance that is added to a material to make it softer and more flexible, to increase its plasticity, to decrease its viscosity, and/or to decrease friction during its handling in manufacture.
Plasticiz ...
s or
phlegmatizers A phlegmatizer is a compound that minimizes the explosive tendency of compound or material. The term is derived from the word phlegmatic, meaning 'not easily excited'. Many chemical compounds that are potentially explosive have useful non-explosive ...
(desensitizers); it is the explosive agent in C-4 plastic explosive. It is stable in storage and is considered one of the most energetic and brisant of the military
high explosive
An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An exp ...
s, with a
relative effectiveness factor
TNT equivalent is a convention for expressing energy, typically used to describe the energy released in an explosion. The is a unit of energy defined by that convention to be , which is the approximate energy released in the detonation of a ...
of 1.60.
Name
RDX is also known, but less commonly, as cyclonite, hexogen (particularly in Russian, French, German and German-influenced languages), T4, and, chemically, as cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine. In the 1930s, the
Royal Arsenal
The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich is an establishment on the south bank of the River Thames in Woolwich in south-east London, England, that was used for the manufacture of armaments and ammunition, proofing, and explosives research for the Britis ...
,
Woolwich
Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throu ...
, started investigating cyclonite to use against German
U-boat
U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...
s that were being built with thicker hulls. The goal was to develop an explosive more energetic than TNT. For security reasons, Britain termed cyclonite "Research Department Explosive" (R.D.X.). The term ''RDX'' appeared in the United States in 1946. The first public reference in the United Kingdom to the name ''RDX'', or ''R.D.X.'', to use the official title, appeared in 1948; its authors were the managing chemist,
ROF Bridgwater
Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF) Bridgwater was a factory between the villages of Puriton and Woolavington in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, UK that produced high explosives for munitions. It was slightly above sea level, between the 5 an ...
, the chemical research and development department, Woolwich, and the director of
Royal Ordnance Factories
Royal Ordnance Factories (ROFs) was the collective name of the UK government's munitions factories during and after the Second World War. Until privatisation, in 1987, they were the responsibility of the Ministry of Supply, and later the Ministr ...
, Explosives; again, it was referred to as simply RDX.
Usage
RDX was widely used during
World War II
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 ...
, often in explosive mixtures with
TNT
Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...
such as
Torpex
Torpex is a secondary explosive, 50% more powerful than TNT by mass. Torpex comprises 42% RDX, 40% TNT and 18% powdered aluminium. It was used in the Second World War from late 1942, at which time some used the names Torpex and RDX interchangeab ...
,
Composition B
Composition B, colloquially Comp B, is an explosive consisting of castable mixtures of RDX and TNT. It is used as the main explosive filling in artillery projectiles, rockets, land mines, hand grenades and various other munitions. It was also use ...
, Cyclotols, and H6. RDX was used in one of the first
plastic explosive
Plastic explosive is a soft and hand-moldable solid form of explosive material. Within the field of explosives engineering, plastic explosives are also known as putty explosives
or blastics.
Plastic explosives are especially suited for explos ...
s. The
bouncing bomb
A bouncing bomb is a bomb designed to bounce to a target across water in a calculated manner to avoid obstacles such as torpedo nets, and to allow both the bomb's speed on arrival at the target and the timing of its detonation to be pre-deter ...
depth charges used in the "
Dambusters Raid
Operation Chastise or commonly known as the Dambusters Raid was an attack on German dams carried out on the night of 16/17 May 1943 by 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dam Busters, using special "bouncing bombs" developed by ...
Grand Slam
Grand Slam most often refers to:
* Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves
Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to:
Games and sports
* Grand slam, winning category te ...
bombs designed by Wallis also used Torpex.
RDX is believed to have been used in many bomb plots, including
terrorist
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
plots.
RDX is the base for a number of common military explosives:
*
Composition A
Composition or Compositions may refer to:
Arts and literature
*Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography
*Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...
: Granular explosive consisting of RDX and plasticizing wax, such as composition A-3 (91% RDX coated with 9% wax) and composition A-5 (98.5 to 99.1% RDX coated with 0.95 to 1.54%
stearic acid
Stearic acid ( , ) is a saturated fatty acid with an 18-carbon chain. The IUPAC name is octadecanoic acid. It is a waxy solid and its chemical formula is C17H35CO2H. Its name comes from the Greek word στέαρ "''stéar''", which means tallow. ...
).
*
Composition B
Composition B, colloquially Comp B, is an explosive consisting of castable mixtures of RDX and TNT. It is used as the main explosive filling in artillery projectiles, rockets, land mines, hand grenades and various other munitions. It was also use ...
: Castable mixtures of 59.5% RDX and 39.4%
TNT
Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...
with 1% wax as
desensitizer
A phlegmatized explosive is an Explosive material, explosive that has had an agent (a phlegmatizer) added to stabilize or desensitize it. Phlegmatizing usually improves the handling properties of an explosive (e.g. when munitions are filled in ...
.
*
Composition C
The Composition C family is a family of related US-specified plastic explosives consisting primarily of RDX. All can be moulded by hand for use in demolition work and packed by hand into shaped charge devices. Variants have different proportions ...
: The original composition C was used in World War II, but there have been subsequent variations including C-2, C-3, and C-4. C-4 consists of RDX (91%); a plasticizer,
dioctyl sebacate
Dioctyl sebacate (also di(2-ethylhexyl) sebacate, commonly abbreviated as DOS, DEHS, and BEHS) is an organic compound which is the diester of sebacic acid and 2-ethylhexanol.
It is an oily colorless liquid and is used as a plasticizer, including i ...
(5.3%); and a binder, which is usually polyisobutylene (2.1%); and oil (1.6%).
* Composition CH-6: 97.5% RDX, 1.5%
calcium stearate
Calcium stearate is a carboxylate salt of calcium, classified as a calcium soap. The salt is a component of some lubricants, surfactants, as well as many foodstuffs. It is a white waxy powder.
Production and occurrence
Calcium stearate is pro ...
, 0.5%
polyisobutylene
Polyisobutene (polyisobutylene) is a class of organic polymers prepared by polymerization of isobutene. The polymers often have the formula Me3C H2CMe2sub>nX (Me = CH3, X = H, F). They are typically colorless gummy solids.
Polymerization is typ ...
, and 0.5%
graphite
Graphite () is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on large ...
ammonium nitrate
Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is a white crystalline salt consisting of ions of ammonium and nitrate. It is highly soluble in water and hygroscopic as a solid, although it does not form hydrates. It is ...
, 40% TNT, and 18% powdered aluminium, developed during World War II, it was to be used in underwater munitions as a substitute for
Torpex
Torpex is a secondary explosive, 50% more powerful than TNT by mass. Torpex comprises 42% RDX, 40% TNT and 18% powdered aluminium. It was used in the Second World War from late 1942, at which time some used the names Torpex and RDX interchangeab ...
employing only half the amount of then-scarce RDX, as the supply of RDX became more adequate, however, the mixture was shelved
*
Cyclotol Cyclotol is an explosive consisting of castable mixtures of RDX and TNT. It is related to the more common Composition B, which is roughly 60% RDX and 40% TNT; various compositions of Cyclotol contain from 65% to 80% RDX.
Typical ranges are from 60 ...
: Castable mixture of RDX (50–80%) with TNT (20–50%) designated by the amount of RDX/TNT, such as Cyclotol 70/30
*
HBX
HBx is a hepatitis B viral protein. It is 154 amino acids long and interferes with transcription, signal transduction, cell cycle progress, protein degradation, apoptosis and chromosomal stability in the host. It forms a heterodimeric complex ...
: Castable mixtures of RDX, TNT, powdered aluminium, and D-2
wax
Waxes are a diverse class of organic compounds that are lipophilic, malleable solids near ambient temperatures. They include higher alkanes and lipids, typically with melting points above about 40 °C (104 °F), melting to giv ...
with calcium chloride
* H-6: Castable mixture of RDX, TNT, powdered aluminum, and
paraffin wax
Paraffin wax (or petroleum wax) is a soft colorless solid derived from petroleum, coal, or oil shale that consists of a mixture of hydrocarbon molecules containing between 20 and 40 carbon atoms. It is solid at room temperature and begins to m ...
polymer-bonded explosive
Polymer-bonded explosives, also called PBX or plastic-bonded explosives, are explosive materials in which explosive powder is bound together in a matrix using small quantities (typically 5–10% by weight) of a synthetic polymer. PBXs are normally ...
s (PBX); RDX-based PBXs typically consist of RDX and at least thirteen different polymer/co-polymer binders. Examples of RDX-based PBX formulations include, but are not limited to: PBX-9007, PBX-9010, PBX-9205, PBX-9407, PBX-9604, PBXN-106, PBXN-3, PBXN-6, PBXN-10, PBXN-201, PBX-0280, PBX Type I, PBXC-116, PBXAF-108, etc.
*
Semtex
Semtex is a general-purpose plastic explosive containing RDX and Pentaerythritol tetranitrate, PETN. It is used in commercial blasting, demolition, and in certain military applications.
Semtex was developed and manufactured in Czechoslovakia, or ...
(trade name): Plastic demolition explosive containing RDX and
PETN
Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), also known as PENT, PENTA, (ПЕНТА, primarily in Russian) TEN, corpent, or penthrite (or, rarely and primarily in German, as nitropenta), is an explosive material. It is the nitrate ester of pentaerythri ...
as major energetic components
*
Torpex
Torpex is a secondary explosive, 50% more powerful than TNT by mass. Torpex comprises 42% RDX, 40% TNT and 18% powdered aluminium. It was used in the Second World War from late 1942, at which time some used the names Torpex and RDX interchangeab ...
: 42% RDX, 40% TNT, and 18% powdered aluminium; the mixture was designed during World War II and used mainly in underwater ordnance
Outside military applications, RDX is also used in controlled demolition to raze structures. The demolition of the
Jamestown Bridge
The Jamestown Bridge (usually referred to as the Old Jamestown Bridge to avoid confusion with its replacement, the Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge) was a cantilever truss bridge that connected Conanicut Island to mainland North Kingstown, Rhod ...
in the U.S. state of
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
was one instance where RDX
shaped charge
A shaped charge is an explosive charge shaped to form an explosively formed penetrator (EFP) to focus the effect of the explosive's energy. Different types of shaped charges are used for various purposes such as cutting and forming metal, init ...
s were used to remove the span.
Synthesis
RDX is classified by chemists as a
hexahydro-1,3,5-triazine
In chemistry, hexahydro-1,3,5-triazine is a class of heterocyclic compounds with the formula (CH2NR)3. They are reduced derivatives of 1,3,5-triazine, which have the formula (CHN)3, a family of aromatic heterocycles. They are often called triaza ...
derivative. In laboratory settings (industrial routes are described below separately) it is obtained by treating
hexamine
Hexamethylenetetramine, also known as methenamine, hexamine, or urotropin, is a heterocyclic organic compound with the formula (CH2)6N4. This white crystalline compound is highly soluble in water and polar organic solvents. It has a cage-like s ...
with
white fuming nitric acid
Nitric acid is the inorganic compound with the formula . It is a highly corrosive mineral acid. The compound is colorless, but older samples tend to be yellow cast due to decomposition into oxides of nitrogen. Most commercially available nitric ...
.
:
This
nitrolysis
Nitrolysis is a chemical reaction involving cleavage ("lysis") of a chemical bond concomitant with installation of a nitro group (NO2). Typical reagents for effecting this conversion are nitric acid and acetyl nitrate. A commercially important ni ...
ammonium nitrate
Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is a white crystalline salt consisting of ions of ammonium and nitrate. It is highly soluble in water and hygroscopic as a solid, although it does not form hydrates. It is ...
, and water as byproducts. The overall reaction is:
:C6H12N4 + 10 HNO3 → C3H6N6O6 + 3 CH2(ONO2)2 + NH4NO3 + 3 H2O
Modern syntheses employ hexahydro triacyl triazine as it avoids formation of HMX.
History
RDX was used by both sides in
World War II
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 ...
. The U.S. produced about per month during WWII and Germany about per month. RDX had the major advantages of possessing greater explosive force than
TNT
Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...
, used in World War I, and requiring no additional raw materials for its manufacture.
Germany
RDX was reported in 1898 by Georg Friedrich Henning, who obtained a
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...
(patent No. 104280) for its manufacture by
nitrolysis
Nitrolysis is a chemical reaction involving cleavage ("lysis") of a chemical bond concomitant with installation of a nitro group (NO2). Typical reagents for effecting this conversion are nitric acid and acetyl nitrate. A commercially important ni ...
of hexamine (
hexamethylenetetramine
Hexamethylenetetramine, also known as methenamine, hexamine, or urotropin, is a heterocyclic organic compound with the formula (CH2)6N4. This white crystalline compound is highly soluble in water and polar organic solvents. It has a cage-like s ...
) with concentrated nitric acid. In this patent, the medical properties of RDX were mentioned; however, three further German patents obtained by Henning in 1916 proposed its use in
smokeless propellant
Finnish smokeless powderSmokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to gunpowder ("black powder"). The combustion products are mainly gaseous, compared to ...
s. The German military started investigating its use in 1920, referring to it as hexogen. Research and development findings were not published further until Edmund von Herz, described as an Austrian and later a German citizen, obtained a British patent in 1921 and a
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
patent in 1922. Both patent claims were initiated in Austria; and described the manufacture of RDX by nitrating
hexamethylenetetramine
Hexamethylenetetramine, also known as methenamine, hexamine, or urotropin, is a heterocyclic organic compound with the formula (CH2)6N4. This white crystalline compound is highly soluble in water and polar organic solvents. It has a cage-like s ...
. The British patent claims included the manufacture of RDX by nitration, its use with or without other explosives, its use as a bursting charge and as an initiator. The U.S. patent claim was for the use of a hollow explosive device containing RDX and a detonator cap containing RDX. In the 1930s, Germany developed improved production methods.
During World War II, Germany used the code names W Salt, SH Salt, K-method, the E-method, and the KA-method. These names represented the identities of the developers of the various chemical routes to RDX. The W-method was developed by Wolfram in 1934 and gave RDX the code name "W-Salz". It used
sulfamic acid
Sulfamic acid, also known as amidosulfonic acid, amidosulfuric acid, aminosulfonic acid, sulphamic acid and sulfamidic acid, is a molecular compound with the formula H3NSO3. This colourless, water-soluble compound finds many applications. Sulfami ...
, formaldehyde, and nitric acid. SH-Salz (SH salt) was from Schnurr, who developed a batch-process in 1937–38 based on nitrolysis of hexamine. The K-method, from Knöffler, involved addition of
ammonium nitrate
Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is a white crystalline salt consisting of ions of ammonium and nitrate. It is highly soluble in water and hygroscopic as a solid, although it does not form hydrates. It is ...
to the hexamine/nitric acid process. The E-method, developed by Ebele, proved to be identical to the Ross and Schiessler process described below. The KA-method, also developed by Knöffler, turned out to be identical to the Bachmann process described below.
The explosive shells fired by the
MK 108 cannon
The MK 108 (German: ''Maschinenkanone''—"machine cannon") was a 30 mm caliber autocannon manufactured in Nazi Germany, Germany during World War II by Rheinmetall‑August Borsig, Borsig for use in aircraft.
The cannon saw widespread use as an ...
and the warhead of the
R4M rocket
R4M, abbreviation for ''Rakete, 4 kilogramm, Minenkopf'' ( en, Rocket, 4 kilogram, Mine-head), also known by the nickname ''Orkan'' ( en, Hurricane) due to its distinctive smoke trail when fired, was a folding-fin air-to-air rocket used by the ...
, both used in
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
fighter aircraft as offensive armament, both used hexogen as their explosive base.
UK
In the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
(UK), RDX was manufactured from 1933 by the research department in a pilot plant at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, a larger pilot plant being built at the RGPF Waltham Abbey just outside London in 1939. In 1939 a twin-unit industrial-scale plant was designed to be installed at a new site,
ROF Bridgwater
Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF) Bridgwater was a factory between the villages of Puriton and Woolavington in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, UK that produced high explosives for munitions. It was slightly above sea level, between the 5 an ...
, away from
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and production of RDX started at Bridgwater on one unit in August 1941. The ROF Bridgwater plant brought in ammonia and methanol as raw materials: the methanol was converted to formaldehyde and some of the ammonia converted to nitric acid, which was concentrated for RDX production. The rest of the ammonia was reacted with formaldehyde to produce hexamine. The hexamine plant was supplied by
Imperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain.
It was formed by the merger of four leading British chemical companies in 1926.
Its headquarters were at M ...
. It incorporated some features based on data obtained from the United States (U.S.). RDX was produced by continually adding hexamine and concentrated nitric acid to a cooled mixture of hexamine and nitric acid in the nitrator. The RDX was purified and processed for its intended use; recovery and reuse of some methanol and nitric acid also was carried out. The hexamine-nitration and RDX purification plants were duplicated (i.e. twin-unit) to provide some insurance against loss of production due to fire, explosion, or air attack.
The United Kingdom and
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
were fighting without allies against
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
until the middle of 1941 and had to be self-sufficient. At that time (1941), the UK had the capacity to produce (160,000 lb) of RDX per week; both
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, an allied country and self-governing dominion within the British Empire, and the U.S. were looked upon to supply ammunition and explosives, including RDX. By 1942 the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
's annual requirement was forecast to be of RDX, much of which came from North America (Canada and the U.S.).
Canada
A different method of production to the Woolwich process was found and used in Canada, possibly at the
McGill University
McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...
department of chemistry. This was based on reacting paraformaldehyde and ammonium nitrate in
acetic anhydride
Acetic anhydride, or ethanoic anhydride, is the chemical compound with the formula (CH3CO)2O. Commonly abbreviated Ac2O, it is the simplest isolable anhydride of a carboxylic acid and is widely used as a reagent in organic synthesis. It is a col ...
. A UK patent application was made by Robert Walter Schiessler (Pennsylvania State University) and James Hamilton Ross (McGill, Canada) in May 1942; the UK patent was issued in December 1947. Gilman states that the same method of production had been independently discovered by Ebele in Germany prior to Schiessler and Ross, but that this was not known by the Allies. Urbański provides details of five methods of production, and he refers to this method as the (German) E-method.
Hercules
Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.
The Romans adapted the Gr ...
, had several decades of experience of manufacturing
trinitrotoluene
Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reage ...
(TNT) and had no wish to experiment with new explosives. U.S. Army Ordnance held the same viewpoint and wanted to continue using TNT. RDX had been tested by
Picatinny Arsenal
The Picatinny Arsenal ( or ) is an American military research and manufacturing facility located on of land in Jefferson and Rockaway Township in Morris County, New Jersey, United States, encompassing Picatinny Lake and Lake Denmark. The Ar ...
in 1929, and it was regarded as too expensive and too sensitive. The Navy proposed to continue using
ammonium picrate
Dunnite, also known as Explosive D or systematically as ammonium picrate, is an explosive developed in 1906 by US Army Major Beverly W. Dunn, who later served as the chief inspector of the Bureau of Transportation Explosives. Ammonium picrate is ...
. In contrast, the
National Defense Research Committee
The National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) was an organization created "to coordinate, supervise, and conduct scientific research on the problems underlying the development, production, and use of mechanisms and devices of warfare" in the Un ...
(NDRC), who had visited The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, thought new explosives were necessary.
James B. Conant
James Bryant Conant (March 26, 1893 – February 11, 1978) was an American chemist, a transformative President of Harvard University, and the first U.S. Ambassador to West Germany. Conant obtained a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Harvard in 1916. ...
, chairman of Division B, wished to involve academic research into this area. Conant therefore set up an experimental explosives research laboratory at the Bureau of Mines, Bruceton, Pennsylvania, using
Office of Scientific Research and Development
The Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) was an agency of the United States federal government created to coordinate scientific research for military purposes during World War II. Arrangements were made for its creation during May 1 ...
(OSRD) funding.
Woolwich method
In 1941, the UK's
Tizard Mission
The Tizard Mission, officially the British Technical and Scientific Mission, was a British delegation that visited the United States during WWII to obtain the industrial resources to exploit the military potential of the research and development ( ...
visited the U.S. Army and Navy departments and part of the information handed over included details of the "Woolwich" method of manufacture of RDX and its stabilisation by mixing it with
beeswax
Beeswax (''cera alba'') is a natural wax produced by honey bees of the genus ''Apis''. The wax is formed into scales by eight wax-producing glands in the abdominal segments of worker bees, which discard it in or at the hive. The hive workers ...
. The UK was asking that the U.S. and Canada, combined, supply (440,000 lb) of RDX per day. A decision was taken by William H. P. Blandy, chief of the
Bureau of Ordnance The Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd) was a United States Navy organization, which was responsible for the procurement, storage, and deployment of all naval weapons, between the years 1862 and 1959.
History
Congress established the Bureau in the Departmen ...
, to adopt RDX for use in mines and
torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...
es. Given the immediate need for RDX, the U.S. Army Ordnance, at Blandy's request, built a plant that copied the equipment and process used at Woolwich. The result was the Wabash River Ordnance Works run by E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. At that time, this works had the largest nitric acid plant in the world. The Woolwich process was expensive: it needed of strong nitric acid for every pound of RDX. These pages need to be checked. Page 13 may actually be page 18.
By early 1941, the NDRC was researching new processes. The Woolwich or direct nitration process has at least two serious disadvantages: (1) it used large amounts of nitric acid and (2) at least one-half of the formaldehyde is lost. One mole of hexamethylenetetramine could produce at most one mole of RDX. At least three laboratories with no previous explosive experience were instructed to develop better production methods for RDX; they were based at
Cornell
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
,
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
Werner Emmanuel Bachmann
Werner Emmanuel Bachmann (November 13, 1901 – March 22, 1951) was an American chemist. Bachmann was born in Detroit, Michigan where he studied chemistry and chemical engineering at Wayne State University and later at the University of Michiga ...
, from Michigan, successfully developed the "combination process" by combining the Ross and Schiessler process used in Canada (aka the German E-method) with direct nitration. The combination process required large quantities of acetic anhydride instead of nitric acid in the old British "Woolwich process". Ideally, the combination process could produce two moles of RDX from each mole of hexamethylenetetramine.
The vast production of RDX could not continue to rely on the use of natural beeswax to desensitize the RDX. A substitute stabilizer based on petroleum was developed at the Bruceton Explosives Research Laboratory.
Bachmann process
The NDRC instructed three companies to develop pilot plants. They were the Western Cartridge Company, E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, and Tennessee Eastman Company, part of Eastman Kodak. At the Eastman Chemical Company (TEC), a leading manufacturer of acetic anhydride,
Werner Emmanuel Bachmann
Werner Emmanuel Bachmann (November 13, 1901 – March 22, 1951) was an American chemist. Bachmann was born in Detroit, Michigan where he studied chemistry and chemical engineering at Wayne State University and later at the University of Michiga ...
developed a continuous-flow process for RDX utilizing an ammonium nitrate/nitric acid mixture as a nitrating agent in a medium of acetic acid and acetic anhydride. RDX was crucial to the war effort and the current batch-production process was too slow. In February 1942, TEC began producing small amounts of RDX at its Wexler Bend pilot plant, which led to the U.S. government authorizing TEC to design and build Holston Ordnance Works (H.O.W.) in June 1942. By April 1943, RDX was being manufactured there. At the end of 1944, the Holston plant and the Wabash River Ordnance Works, which used the Woolwich process, were producing (50 million pounds) of
Composition B
Composition B, colloquially Comp B, is an explosive consisting of castable mixtures of RDX and TNT. It is used as the main explosive filling in artillery projectiles, rockets, land mines, hand grenades and various other munitions. It was also use ...
per month.
The U.S. Bachmann process for RDX was found to be richer in HMX than the United Kingdom's RDX. This later led to a RDX plant using the Bachmann process being set up at ROF Bridgwater in 1955 to produce both RDX and HMX.
Military compositions
The United Kingdom's intention in World War II was to use "desensitised" RDX. In the original Woolwich process, RDX was
phlegmatized
A phlegmatized explosive is an explosive that has had an agent (a phlegmatizer) added to stabilize or desensitize it. Phlegmatizing usually improves the handling properties of an explosive (e.g. when munitions are filled in factories. Alfred N ...
with beeswax, but later
paraffin wax
Paraffin wax (or petroleum wax) is a soft colorless solid derived from petroleum, coal, or oil shale that consists of a mixture of hydrocarbon molecules containing between 20 and 40 carbon atoms. It is solid at room temperature and begins to m ...
was used, based on the work carried out at Bruceton. In the event the UK was unable to obtain sufficient RDX to meet its needs, some of the shortfall was met by substituting
amatol
Amatol is a highly explosive material made from a mixture of TNT and ammonium nitrate. The British name originates from the words ammonium and toluene (the precursor of TNT). Similar mixtures (one part dinitronaphthalene and seven parts ammoniu ...
, a mixture of ammonium nitrate and TNT.
Karl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz (sometimes spelled Doenitz; ; 16 September 1891 24 December 1980) was a German admiral who briefly succeeded Adolf Hitler as head of state in May 1945, holding the position until the dissolution of the Flensburg Government follo ...
was reputed to have claimed that "an aircraft can no more kill a U-boat than a crow can kill a
mole
Mole (or Molé) may refer to:
Animals
* Mole (animal) or "true mole", mammals in the family Talpidae, found in Eurasia and North America
* Golden moles, southern African mammals in the family Chrysochloridae, similar to but unrelated to Talpida ...
depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...
s containing
Torpex
Torpex is a secondary explosive, 50% more powerful than TNT by mass. Torpex comprises 42% RDX, 40% TNT and 18% powdered aluminium. It was used in the Second World War from late 1942, at which time some used the names Torpex and RDX interchangeab ...
, a mixture of RDX, TNT, and aluminium, which had up to 50 percent more destructive power than TNT-filled depth charges. Considerable quantities of the RDX–TNT mixture were produced at the Holston Ordnance Works, with
Tennessee Eastman
Eastman Chemical Company is an American company primarily involved in the chemical industry. Once a subsidiary of Kodak, today it is an independent global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of advanced materials, chemicals and ...
developing an automated mixing and cooling process based around the use of stainless steel
conveyor belt
A conveyor belt is the carrying medium of a belt conveyor system (often shortened to belt conveyor). A belt conveyor system is one of many types of conveyor systems. A belt conveyor system consists of two or more pulleys (sometimes referred to ...
s.
Terrorism
A
Semtex
Semtex is a general-purpose plastic explosive containing RDX and Pentaerythritol tetranitrate, PETN. It is used in commercial blasting, demolition, and in certain military applications.
Semtex was developed and manufactured in Czechoslovakia, or ...
bomb was used in the
Pan Am Flight 103
Pan Am Flight 103 was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via a stopover in London and another in New York City. The transatlantic leg of the route was operated by ''Clipper Maid of the Seas'', a Boeing ...
(known also as the Lockerbie) bombing in 1988. A belt laden with of RDX explosives tucked under the dress of the assassin was used in the
assassination
Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...
of former Indian prime minister
Rajiv Gandhi
Rajiv Gandhi (; 20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian politician who served as the sixth prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the 1984 assassination of his mother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to beco ...
in 1991. The
1993 Bombay bombings
The 1993 Bombay bombings were a series of 12 terrorist bombings that took place in Bombay, Maharashtra, on 12 March 1993. The single-day attacks resulted in 257 fatalities and 1,400 injuries. The attacks were coordinated by Dawood Ibrahim, le ...
used RDX placed into several vehicles as bombs. RDX was the main component used for the
2006 Mumbai train bombings
The 2006 Mumbai train bombings were a series of seven bomb blasts on 11 July. They took place over a period of 11 minutes on the Suburban Railway in Mumbai, the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the nation's financial capital ...
and the
Jaipur bombings
The Jaipur bombings were a series of nine synchronized bomb blasts that took place on 13 May 2008 within a span of fifteen minutes at locations in Jaipur, the capital city of the Indian state of Rajasthan, and a tourist destination.2010 Moscow Metro bombings.
Traces of RDX were found on pieces of wreckage from 1999 Russian apartment bombings and
2004 Russian aircraft bombings
On the night of 24 August 2004, explosive devices were detonated on board two domestic passenger flights that had taken off from Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia, causing the destruction of both aircraft and the loss of all 90 ...
. Further reports on the bombs used in the 1999 apartment bombings indicated that while RDX was not a part of the main charge, each bomb contained plastic explosive used as a
booster charge
{{unreferenced, date=August 2011
An explosive booster is a sensitive explosive charge that acts as a bridge between a (relatively weak) conventional detonator and a low-sensitivity (but typically high-energy) explosive such as TNT. By itself, the ...
.
Ahmed Ressam
Ahmed Ressam ( ar, احمد رسام; also Benni Noris or the Millennium Bomber; born May 9, 1967) is an Algerian al-Qaeda member who lived for a time in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He received extensive terrorist training in Afghanistan.
He was c ...
, the
al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
Millennium Bomber, used a small quantity of RDX as one of the components in the bomb that he prepared to detonate in
Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the W ...
on
New Year's Eve
In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...
1999-2000; the bomb could have produced a blast forty times greater than that of a devastating
car bomb
A car bomb, bus bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles.
Car bombs can be roughly divided ...
.
In July 2012, the Kenyan government arrested two Iranian nationals and charged them with illegal possession of of RDX. According to the Kenyan Police, the Iranians planned to use the RDX for "attacks on Israeli, US, UK and Saudi Arabian targets".
RDX was used in the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri on February 14, 2005.
In the
2019 Pulwama attack
The 2019 Pulwama attack occurred on 14 February 2019, when a convoy of vehicles carrying Indian security personnel on the Jammu–Srinagar National Highway was attacked by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber at Lethapora in the Pulwama district o ...
in India, 250 kg of high-grade RDX was used by
Jaish-e-Mohammed
Jaish-e-Mohammed ( ur, , literally "The Army of Muhammad", abbreviated as JeM) is a Pakistan-based: "The JEM is a Pakistan-based, militant Islamic group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in March 2000."
Deobandi: "Deobandis like Masood Azha ...
. The attack resulted in the deaths of 44
Central Reserve Police Force
The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is a federal police organisation in India under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) of the Government of India. It is one among the Central Armed Police Forces. The CRPF's primary role li ...
(CRPF) personnel as well as the attacker.
Stability
RDX has a high nitrogen content and a high oxygen to carbon ratio, (O:C ratio), both of which indicate its explosive potential for formation of N2 and CO2.
RDX undergoes a deflagration to detonation transition (DDT) in confinement and certain circumstances.
The
velocity of detonation
Explosive velocity, also known as detonation velocity or velocity of detonation (VoD), is the velocity at which the shock wave front travels through a detonated explosive. Explosive velocities are always faster than the local speed of sound in the ...
of RDX at a density of 1.76 g/cm3 is 8750 m/s.
It starts to decompose at approximately 170 °C and melts at 204 °C. At
room temperature
Colloquially, "room temperature" is a range of air temperatures that most people prefer for indoor settings. It feels comfortable to a person when they are wearing typical indoor clothing. Human comfort can extend beyond this range depending on ...
, it is very stable. It burns rather than explodes. It detonates only with a
detonator
A detonator, frequently a blasting cap, is a device used to trigger an explosive device. Detonators can be chemically, mechanically, or electrically initiated, the last two being the most common.
The commercial use of explosives uses electri ...
, being unaffected even by
small arms
A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions).
The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes c ...
fire. This property makes it a useful military explosive. It is less sensitive than pentaerythritol tetranitrate (
PETN
Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), also known as PENT, PENTA, (ПЕНТА, primarily in Russian) TEN, corpent, or penthrite (or, rarely and primarily in German, as nitropenta), is an explosive material. It is the nitrate ester of pentaerythri ...
). Under normal conditions, RDX has a Figure of Insensitivity of exactly 80 (RDX defines the reference point).
RDX sublimes in
vacuum
A vacuum is a space devoid of matter. The word is derived from the Latin adjective ''vacuus'' for "vacant" or "void". An approximation to such vacuum is a region with a gaseous pressure much less than atmospheric pressure. Physicists often dis ...
, which restricts or prevents its use in some applications.
RDX, when exploded in air, has about 1.5 times the explosive energy of TNT per unit weight and about 2.0 times per unit volume.
RDX is insoluble in water, with solubility 0.05975 g/L at temperature of 25 °C.
Toxicity
The substance's toxicity has been studied for many years. RDX has caused convulsions (seizures) in military field personnel ingesting it, and in
munition
Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weapo ...
workers inhaling its dust during manufacture. At least one fatality was attributed to RDX toxicity in a European munitions manufacturing plant.
During the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, at least 40 American soldiers were hospitalized with composition C-4 (which is 91% RDX) intoxication from December 1968 to December 1969. C-4 was frequently used by soldiers as a fuel to heat food, and the food was generally mixed by the same knife that was used to cut C-4 into small pieces prior to burning. Soldiers were exposed to C-4 either due to inhaling the fumes, or due to ingestion, made possible by many small particles adhering to the knife having been deposited into the cooked food. The symptom complex involved nausea, vomiting, generalized seizures, and prolonged postictal confusion and amnesia; which indicated
toxic encephalopathy
Toxic encephalopathy is a neurologic disorder caused by exposure to neurotoxic organic solvents such as toluene, following exposure to heavy metals such as manganese, as a side effect of melarsoprol treatment for African trypanosomiasis, adverse ef ...
.
Oral toxicity of RDX depends on its physical form; in rats, the LD50 was found to be 100 mg/kg for finely powdered RDX, and 300 mg/kg for coarse, granular RDX. A case has been reported of a human child hospitalized in
status epilepticus
Status epilepticus (SE), or status seizure, is a single seizure lasting more than 5 minutes or 2 or more seizures within a 5-minute period without the person returning to normal between them. Previous definitions used a 30-minute time limit. The s ...
following the ingestion of 84.82 mg/kg dose of RDX (or 1.23 g for the patient's body weight of 14.5 kg) in the "plastic explosive" form.
The substance has low to moderate toxicity with a
possible human carcinogen
A carcinogen is any substance, radionuclide, or radiation that promotes carcinogenesis (the formation of cancer). This may be due to the ability to damage the genome or to the disruption of cellular metabolic processes. Several radioactive substan ...
classification. Further research is ongoing, however, and this classification may be revised by the
United States Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...
(EPA). Remediating RDX-contaminated water supplies has proven to be successful. It is known to be a kidney toxin in humans and highly toxic to earthworms and plants, thus army testing ranges where RDX was used heavily may need to undergo environmental remediation. Concerns have been raised by research published in late 2017 indicating that the issue has not been addressed correctly by U.S. officials.
Civilian use
RDX has been used as a
rodenticide
Rodenticides are chemicals made and sold for the purpose of killing rodents. While commonly referred to as "rat poison", rodenticides are also used to kill mice, squirrels, woodchucks, chipmunks, porcupines, nutria, beavers, and voles. Despi ...
.
Biodegradation
RDX is degraded by the organisms in
sewage sludge
Sewage sludge is the residual, semi-solid material that is produced as a by-product during sewage treatment of industrial or municipal wastewater. The term "septage" also refers to sludge from simple wastewater treatment but is connected to si ...
FOX-7
FOX-7 or 1,1-diamino-2,2-dinitroethylene (DADNE) is an insensitive high explosive compound. It was first synthesized in 1998 by the Swedish National Defence Research Institute (FOS).Bemm, U.; Östmark, H. (1998) "1,1-Diamino-2,2-dinitroethylene: a ...
is considered to be approximately a 1-to-1 replacement for RDX in almost all applications.
See also
*
Russian apartment bombings
The Russian apartment bombings were a series of explosions that hit four apartment blocks in the Russian cities of Buynaksk, Moscow and Volgodonsk in September 1999, killing more than 300, injuring more than 1,000, and spreading a wave of fear ac ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*. See also .
* Urbański translatio openlibrary.org Macmillan, NY, 1964, .