Evolution of Propellants & Ammunition

Question 1

What is the concept of a propellant ?

Answer 1

The concept of a propellers store energy in chemical form, essential for weapons technology.

Question 2

What is black powder?

Answer 2

Early propellants was a simple mixture of charcoal, sulphur and potassium nitrate

Question 3

What is the components of modern propellant grade powder?

Answer 3

• 75 parts potassium Nitrate
• 15 parts charcoal
• 10 parts sulphur

Question 4

Disadvantages of Black Powder

Answer 4

• Limited to total energy per unit of volume.
• Velocities seldom exceed 1400 ft/sec.
• Black powder residue is corrosive to steel which accelerates wear on the firearm.
• Produces dense smoke and fouling in the barrel

Question 5

What was the shape of early projectiles?

Answer 5

Balls were used in early cannon projectiles, cast from common metals.

Question 6

Why was small round lead balls used as early projectiles?

Answer 6

Lead was used to create projectiles for small arms. Which were evolved to be scaled down for portability.

Question 7

Advantages of round lead balls?

Answer 7

• Common,
• Inexpensive
• Low melting point.

Question 8

What are paper cartridges and why are they early cartridges?

Answer 8

Paper cartridges was introduced for making loading faster and more precise by measuring a charge of powder in a tube.

Question 9

What is rifling and why was it used in early ammunition?

Answer 9

Rifling was implemented in firearm bores to improve accuracy.

Question 10

What was the issue with early rifling and how was it fixed?

Answer 10

Rifling must be large enough to engage groove, but it was difficult to push. An undersized ball and paper patch or cloth can be used to keep the ball engaged with rifling.

Question 11

Why was cylindrical projectile discovered?

Answer 11

In order to fix the rifling problem

Question 12

In what year was the cylindrical projectile discovered and by who?

Answer 12

1846 by Claude Minié

Question 13

How was the cylindrical bullet designed?

Answer 13

Minié developed a cylindrical bullet and ball with cavity in base.

Question 14

What was the nickname of the cylindrical ball?

Answer 14

This projectile became known as the Minié ball.

Question 15

What primer was used in early ammunition ?

Answer 15

Mercury fulminate was used in the percussion cap to create a reliable primer for breech-loaded weapons.

Question 16

What design did the percussion cap?

Answer 16

Percussion cap which was a tiny copper cup with a thin layer of fulminate.

Question 17

What was one of the first metallic cartridges?

Answer 17

50 calibre Maynard cartridge

Question 18

What is the design of Maynard cartridge?

Answer 18

Maynard cartridge has perforation and wider base for easier extraction and to receive the primer flame.

Question 19

What is the Flobert Cartridge and who created it?

Answer 19

The Flobert Cartridge was a cartridge with fulminate smeared
inside its hollow rim created by Louis Flobert.

Question 20

How does the design of the Flobert help in its use?

Answer 20

As the firing pin impact the rim, the fulminate smeared inside provide all of the power for the ball.

Question 21

rWho made improvements to the Flobert Cartridge concept and what was the cartridge called?

Answer 21

Smith and Wesson made improvements to this concept, introducing in 1857 the 22 short cartridge.

Question 22

What were the main aims of modern propellants?

Answer 22

Modern propellants were designed to reduce corrosive by-products caused by sulphur and incorporate oxidizers and ensure safety.

Question 23

When was nitrocellulose created?

Answer 23

The invention of nitrocellulose in 1845-46.

Question 24

How was nitrocellulose made?

Answer 24

As the result of treating cotton fibres with Nitric Acid.

Question 25

What is the disadvantage of nitrocellulose ?

Answer 25

While this development gave chemists the self-oxidizer and minimal residue, guncotton could not be predictably controlled in its native state.

Question 26

What is celluloid?

Answer 26

Dissolved nitrocellulose (celluloid) using a mixture of alcohol and ether

Question 27

When was nitrocellulose created and why?

Answer 27

Celluloid was discovered a year after nitrocellulose was discovered (1847) and it was used as one of the first plastics

Question 28

What did Paul Vielle discover?

Answer 28

Paul Vielle, experimented with the alcohol ether mixture into thin layers and partially dried them into flexible sheets which residual mixture acted as a plasticizer that prevented granules from shattering allowed for modern propellants.

Question 29

What is the disadvantage of Vielle method plasticizer?

Answer 29

Dehydration; if the alcohol/ether evaporates during storage, the rate of energy release increases

Question 30

When was nitroglycerine discovered and by who?

Answer 30

In 1846 Ascanio Sobrero first made an explosive liquid called nitroglycerin.

Question 31

How was nitroglycerine made?

Answer 31

Explosive liquid called nitroglycerin by treating glycerol with a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acid.

Question 32

What was the issue with early nitroglycerine?

Answer 32

Because it is very sensitive to shock, it was very difficult to predict under which conditions it would explode.

Question 33

When and how did Alfred Nobel improve nitroglycerine?

Answer 33

In 1867 he discovered how to harness the explosive power nitroglycerin and therefore invent dynamite.

Question 34

What is the problem with dynamite?

Answer 34

Dynamite was a good industrial explosive but unsuitable as a propellant because it was highly sensitive and detonates instead of deflagrating.

Question 35

What is cordite?

Answer 35

A gunpowder called Cordite, which is a Composition of 58% nitroglycerin, 37% guncotton and 3% petroleum Jelly to form a colloid.

Question 36

When did cordite enter into service?

Answer 36

The British entered into service in 1891 a new formulation of gunpowder

Question 37

What is single base propellant?

Answer 37

That powder which has nitrocellulose as its main ingredient, and contains no other major energy producing component.

Question 38

What does double base propellant?

Answer 38

A propellant composed of colloided nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin as its base as opposed to single base powder which has colloided nitrocellulose only as its base material.

Question 39

What is the different shapes of the propellant granules?

Answer 39

• Progressive Burning
• Digressive Burning
• Neutral Burning

Question 40

What is progressive burning?

Answer 40

The surface area increases continuously as the grains are consumed, therefore generating gas at an increasing rate. These propellants have grains that are multiperforated.

Question 41

What is digressive burning?

Answer 41

The rate of burning decreases as the powder grains are
consumed, therefore, generate gas at a decreasing rate.
These propellants are formed in flakes, balls and sticks.

Question 42

When are disk or flake propellants used?

Answer 42

Disk or Flake propellants are used in low pressure applications such as handgun and shotshell ammunition.

Question 43

How does disk or flake propellants burned?

Answer 43

Most of the burns happen from the flat sides inward, the rate of release is relatively constant until the final stage of the burn cycle.

Question 44

How does cylindrical propellants burn?

Answer 44

Cylindrical propellants allows to burn from the outside and inside, keeping the surface are more uniform to achieve and maintain a constant peak pressure.

Question 45

What kind of energy release is a cylindrical propellant?

Answer 45

Cylindrical propellants fall in the category of slow to medium energy release category.

Question 46

What is smokeless powder?

Answer 46

A propellant powder composed primarily of nitrocellulose (single-base), or nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine (double-base).

Question 47

What are advantages of smokeless powder?

Answer 47

• It produces much less smoke and flash
• It delivers more energy per unit of volume
• Greater stability in storage
• Improved control over its rate of burning