ammonium picrate
Sign in to saveDunnite, also known as Explosive D or systematically as ammonium picrate, is an explosive developed in 1906 by US Army Major Beverly W. Dunn, who later served as chief inspector of the Bureau of Transportation Explosives. Ammonium picrate is a salt formed by reacting picric acid and ammonia. It is chemically related to the more stable explosive trinitrotoluene (TNT).
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Dunnite, also known as Explosive D or systematically as ammonium picrate, is an explosive developed in 1906 by US Army Major Beverly W. Dunn, who later served as chief inspector of the Bureau of Transportation Explosives. Ammonium picrate is a salt formed by reacting picric acid and ammonia. It is chemically related to the more stable explosive trinitrotoluene (TNT).
== History == Ammonium picrate was proposed for use as a component in gunpowder by Brugère and Abel as early as 1869: the former proposed to mix 54% of it with 46% of saltpetre while the latter, 60% with 40%. Their compositions gave less smoke and were more energetic than black powder but neither was adopted by any military, even though in the 1890s "semi-smokeless" powder compositions featuring ammonium picrates were sold commercially in the US. It also was a minor component of the Peyton powder made by the California Powder Works which was procured by the US military in the same period.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “ammonium picrate” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.