cordite
Sign in to savethumb|A stick of cordite from World War II thumb|A sectioned British 18-pounder field gun shrapnel round, World War I, with bound string to simulate the appearance of the original cordite propellant thumb|Close-up of cordite filaments in a .303 British rifle cartridge (manufactured in 1964) thumb|Burning a strand of cordite from a .303 British round
Article
26 sectionsContents
- Adoption of smokeless powder by the British government
- Replacements for gunpowder (black powder)
- Early European smokeless powders
- Development of cordites
- Nobel and Abel patent dispute
- Formulations
- Cordite (Mk I) and Cordite MD
- Cordite RDB
- Cordite SC
- Cordite N
- Charge design
- Manufacture
- UK Government factories
- MoS Agency Factories and ICI Nobel in World War II
- Overseas supplies
- World War I
- Production quantities
- Pre-World War I
- World War I
- Between wars
- World War II
- See also
- Bibliography
- Footnotes
- Citations
- External links
thumb|A stick of cordite from World War II thumb|A sectioned British 18-pounder field gun shrapnel round, World War I, with bound string to simulate the appearance of the original cordite propellant thumb|Close-up of cordite filaments in a .303 British rifle cartridge (manufactured in 1964) thumb|Burning a strand of cordite from a .303 British round
Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in Britain since 1889 to replace black powder as a military firearm propellant. Cordite is made by combining two chemical high explosives: nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine in certain ways, and is therefore a chemical high explosive moderated with another chemical high explosive. They are designed, in normal use, to produce a subsonic deflagration wave rather than the supersonic detonation wave produced by brisants, or high explosives. The hot gases produced by burning gunpowder or cordite generate sufficient pressure to propel a bullet or shell to its target, but not so quickly as to routinely destroy the barrel of the gun.