Topic summary
High-explosive shell
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Shell (projectile).
High-explosive shells
Although smokeless powders were used as a propellant, they could not be used as the substance for the explosive warhead, because shock sensitivity sometimes caused detonation in the artillery barrel at the time of firing. Picric acid was the first high-explosive nitrated organic compound widely considered suitable to withstand the shock of firing in conventional artillery. In 1885, based on research of Hermann Sprengel, French chemist Eugène Turpin patented the use of pressed and cast picric acid in blasting charges and artillery shells. In 1887, the French government adopted a mixture of picric acid and guncotton under the name Melinite. In 1888, Britain started manufacturing a very similar mixture in Lydd, Kent, under the name Lyddite.