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Plastic explosive is a soft and hand-moldable solid form of explosive material. Within the field of
explosives engineering Explosives engineering is the field of science and engineering which is related to examining the behavior and usage of explosive materials. Topics Some of the topics that explosives engineers study, research, and work on include: * Developmen ...
, plastic explosives are also known as putty explosives or blastics. Plastic explosives are especially suited for explosive
demolition Demolition (also known as razing, cartage, and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down of buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a ...
. Common plastic explosives include Semtex and C-4. The first manufactured plastic explosive was
gelignite Gelignite (), also known as blasting gelatin or simply "jelly", is an explosive material consisting of collodion-cotton (a type of nitrocellulose or guncotton) dissolved in either nitroglycerine or nitroglycol and mixed with wood pulp and saltpe ...
in 1875, invented by
Alfred Nobel Alfred Bernhard Nobel ( , ; 21 October 1833 – 10 December 1896) was a Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and philanthropist. He is best known for having bequeathed his fortune to establish the Nobel Prize, though he al ...
.


Usage

Plastic explosives are especially suited for explosive demolition of obstacles and
fortification A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere' ...
s by
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the lim ...
s, combat engineers and criminals as they can be easily formed into the best shapes for cutting structural members and have a high enough
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 ...
and
density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' can also be used. Mathematica ...
for metal cutting work. An early use of plastic explosives was in the warhead of the Petard demolition mortar of the British Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers (AVRE); said mortar was used to destroy concrete fortifications encountered during
Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...
(D-Day). The original use of Nobel 808 supplied by the SOE was for
sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...
of German installations and railways in Occupied Europe. They are generally not used for ordinary blasting as they tend to be significantly more expensive than other materials that perform just as well in this application. A common commercial use of plastic explosives is for shock hardening high
manganese Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial all ...
percentage steel, a material typically used for train rail components and earth digging implements. Reactive armor in tanks uses plastic explosives sandwiched between two plates of steel. Incoming high explosive shaped charge anti-tank rounds pierce the outer steel plate, then detonate the plastic explosive. This disrupts the energy from the incoming round and shields the tank.


History

The first plastic explosive was
gelignite Gelignite (), also known as blasting gelatin or simply "jelly", is an explosive material consisting of collodion-cotton (a type of nitrocellulose or guncotton) dissolved in either nitroglycerine or nitroglycol and mixed with wood pulp and saltpe ...
, invented by
Alfred Nobel Alfred Bernhard Nobel ( , ; 21 October 1833 – 10 December 1896) was a Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and philanthropist. He is best known for having bequeathed his fortune to establish the Nobel Prize, though he al ...
in 1875. Prior to World War I, the British explosives chemist Oswald Silberrad obtained British and U.S. patents for a series of plastic explosives called "Nitrols", composed of nitrated aromatics, collodion, and oxidising inorganic salts. The language of the patents indicate that at this time, Silberrad saw no need to explain to "those versed in the art" either what he meant by plasticity or why it may be advantageous, as he only explains why his plastic explosive is superior to others of that type. One of the simplest plastic explosives was Nobel's Explosive No. 808, also known as ''Nobel 808'' (often just called ''Explosive 808'' in the
British Armed Forces The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, ...
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 opposi ...
), developed by the British company Nobel Chemicals Ltd well before World War II. It had the appearance of green
plasticine Plasticine is a putty-like modelling material made from calcium salts, petroleum jelly and aliphatic acids. Though originally a brand name for the British version of the product, it is now applied generically in English as a product categor ...
with a distinctive smell of almonds. During World War II it was extensively used by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) at
Aston House Aston House was a prominent 17th century residence with large parkland situated opposite the parish church in Aston, Hertfordshire, UK.The house was demolished in 1961 by the Stevenage New Town Development Corporation after occupying it as its ini ...
for sabotage missions. It is also the explosive used in HESH
anti-tank Anti-tank warfare originated from the need to develop technology and tactics to destroy tanks during World War I. Since the Triple Entente deployed the first tanks in 1916, the German Empire developed the first anti-tank weapons. The first de ...
shells and was an essential factor in the devising of the Gammon grenade. Captured SOE-supplied Nobel 808 was the explosive used in the failed
20 July plot On 20 July 1944, Claus von Stauffenberg and other conspirators attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of Nazi Germany, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia, now  Kętrzyn, in present-day Poland. ...
assassination attempt on
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
in 1944. During and after World War II a number of new
RDX 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 n ...
-based explosives were developed, including Compositions C, C2, and eventually C3. Together with RDX, these incorporate various plasticizers to decrease sensitivity and make the composition plastic. The origin of the obsolete term "plastique" dates back to the Nobel 808 explosive introduced to the U.S. by the British in 1940. The samples of explosive brought to the U.S. by the
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 ( ...
had already been packaged by the SOE ready for dropping via parachute container to the
French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the Nazi occupation of France and the collaborationist Vichy régime during the Second World War. Resistance cells were small groups of armed men ...
and were therefore labeled in French, as ''Explosif Plastique''. It is still referred to by this name in France and also by some Americans.


Types


Composition C

The British used a plastic explosive during World War II as a demolition charge. The specific explosive, Composition C, was 88.3% RDX and 11.7% non-oily, non-explosive plasticizer. The material was plastic between , but was brittle at colder temperatures and gummy at higher temperatures. Composition C was superseded by Composition C2, which used a mixture of 80% RDX and 20% plasticizer. Composition C2 had a wider temperature range at which it remained plastic, from . Composition C2 was replaced by Composition C3, which was a mixture of 77% RDX and 23% explosive plasticizer. C3 was effective but proved to be too brittle in cold weather and was replaced with C4. There are three classes of C4, with varying amounts of RDX and polyisobutylene.


Semtex

File:C4 explosive.jpg, A demolition charge of C4 explosive File:USMC-100609-M-0761B-014.jpg, A Marine shapes a charge of C4 to cut through solid steel at a demolitions range File:Semtex H 1.jpg, Two blocks of Semtex-1H (note the characteristic orange color) and an American M112 charge containing C4


List of plastic explosives

* Australia: PE4, PE4-MC * Austria: KNAUERIT SPEZIAL * Czech Republic: Semtex-1H (orange-colored), Semtex 1A (red-colored), Semtex 10 (also called Pl Np 10; black-colored), Pl Hx 30 (gray-colored) * Finland: PENO * France: Hexomax, Composition C-4 PLASTRITE (FORMEX P1, Pla Np 87) * Germany: Sprengkörper DM12, P8301, Seismoplast 1 ( Sprengmasse, formbar) * Netherlands: Knaverit S1 (light orange-colored) * Greece: C3, C4 * India: PEK-1 * Israel: Semtex * Italy: T-4 Plastico * Norway: NM91 ( HMX), C4, DPX10 (PE8) * Pakistan: PE-3A * Poland: PMW, NITROLIT * Russia: PVV-5A Plastic Explosive *
Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to th ...
: CHEMEX (Composition C-4 equivalent), TVAREX 4A, Pl Hx 30 * South Africa: PE9 (Composition C-4 equivalent) * Sweden: Sprängdeg m/46, NSP711 (
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 pentaerythr ...
-based), NSH711 (cyclonite-based) * Switzerland: PLASTEX produced by SSE * Turkey: Composition C-4 * United Kingdom ** MOD explosives: PE2 (sheet explosive, superseded by SX2), PE3A (superseded by PE4), PE4 (pure to off-white slab, block, or stick, superseded by PE7 and PE8 in MOD usage), SX2 (sheet explosive, superseded by SX4), PE7 (pure to off-white slab or block, Hexomax variant), PE8 (pure to off-white slab or block, current in-service slab charge), SX4 (sheet explosive), DPX (DPX1 used in L26A1 Bangalore Torpedo Demolition Charge, DPX9 used in SABREX) ** Non-MOD explosives: Composition C-4 (M5A1 and M112 charges produced by Mondial Defence Systems), Semtex (Several variants including Razor produced by Mondial Defence Systems, PW4 variant produced by
Chemring Chemring Group is a global business providing a range of advanced technology products and services to the aerospace, defence and security markets. Chemring has extensive operations in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Asia. The company was ...
)) * USA: Composition C-4 (pure white block or sheet, current in-service charges designated as M112 and M118) *
Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...
/ Serbia: PP–01 (Composition C-4 equivalent)


See also

*
Convention on the Marking of Plastic Explosives The Convention on the Marking of Plastic Explosives for the Purpose of Detection is a multilateral anti-terrorism treaty that aims to prohibit and prevent the manufacture or storage of unmarked plastic explosives. Content A state that ratifies t ...


References


External links

* * {{Commons category-inline British inventions Explosives