HOME

Science and Technology of Energetic Materials

Vol.66, No.6 (2005)Special Issue for ISEM 2005

Research paper

Study on reactivity of ammonium nitrate contaminated by sodium dichloroisocyanurate
Xin-Rui Li and Hiroshi Koseki
p.431-435

Abstract

A fatal 2001 explosion at a fertilizer plant in Toulouse, France, was possibly caused by an accidental mixture of sodium dichloroisocyanurate (DCCNa) and ammonium nitrate (AN). In this study, DCCNa was added into AN by the concentration of 0.01%, 0.03%, 0.1%, 0.5% and 1%, respectively. A heat flux calorimetry C80 and an accelerating rate calorimetry (ARC) were used to analyze thermal decomposition of AN and its mixtures. The results showed that the initial decomposition temperature of the mixture decreased markedly compared to that of pure AN. It is considered that DCCNa catalyzes the decomposition of AN through key steps including the synergism between HNO3 and Cl-. Nonetheless, the results of the BAM 50/60 steel tube test did not show visible effect of added DCCNa on the detonation of AN.

> Full text (Open access*)

Keywords

Ammonium nitrate (AN); Thermal hazard; Sodium dichloroisocynurate (DCCNa), Chlorine derivatives; Contamination

© Copyright 1999-2017 Japan Explosives Society. All right reserved.