Trialen was 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 ...

developed in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It was 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 ...

in the

V-1 flying bomb The V-1 flying bomb (german: Vergeltungswaffe 1 "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Ministry of Aviation (Nazi Germany), Reich Aviation Ministry () designation was Fi 103. It was also known to the Allies as the buz ...

and Arado E.377 glide bomb, among other weapons, as an enhanced blast explosive. Trialen was the German equivalent of the British explosive

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 ...

, though its production was hindered by a shortage of the

aluminium powder Aluminium powder is powdered aluminium. This was originally produced by mechanical means using a stamp mill to create flakes. Subsequently, a process of spraying molten aluminium to create a powder of droplets was developed by E. J. Hall in the ...

that was added to increase its explosive power. It comprised a mixture of

Trotyl 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 ...

(TNT),

hexogen RDX (abbreviation of "Research Department eXplosive") or hexogen, among other names, is an organic compound with the formula (O2N2CH2)3. It is a white solid without smell or taste, widely used as an explosive. Chemically, it is classified as a ...

and aluminium powder in varying proportions for each of three versions, known as Trialen (or Filler) 105, 106 and 107 respectively. The proportions for each version were: *Trialen 105: Trotyl 70%, hexogen 15%, Aluminium powder 15% *Trialen 106: Trotyl 50%, hexogen 25%, Aluminium powder 25% *Trialen 107: Trotyl 50%, hexogen 20%, Aluminium powder 30% * Trialen 105/109: a mixture of 27% Trialen 105 and 73% PMF 109. PMF 109 (Panzermunitionsfüllung 109) was a mixture consisting of 71%

cyclonite RDX (abbreviation of "Research Department eXplosive") or hexogen, among other names, is an organic compound with the formula (O2N2CH2)3. It is a white solid without smell or taste, widely used as an explosive. Chemically, it is classified as a ...

, 25% aluminium powder and 4%

montan wax Montan wax, also known as lignite wax or OP wax, is a hard wax obtained by solvent extraction of certain types of lignite or brown coal. Commercially viable deposits exist in only a few locations, including Amsdorf, Germany, and in the Ione B ...

. Though highly brisant and thermobaric, this mixture was infusible and quite impact sensitive, hence ill-suited for filling large caliber munitions. These drawbacks were overcome by the so-called ''Stuckfüllung'', or "biscuit filling", method: the pulverulent PMF 109 mixture was compressed into small cylindrical, tablet-like pellets and these were poured into the munition body, the space between them being filled with molten fusible Trialen 105; this method allowed the German munition factories to produce large, quasi homogeneous fillings containing a high proportion of cyclonite and hence high energy output and brisance by a simple variant of the melt casting process, while simultaneously conserving the trotyl needed to do so.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{Cite book , title=German Air-dropped Weapons to 1945 , last=Fleischer , first=Wolfgang , origyear=2003 , year=2004 , publisher= , isbn=1-85780-174-1 , ref={{harvid, Fleischer, 2003 , page=236 Explosives