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Initial Stages of the Explosion of Nitroglycerine

Abstract

IT has been reported previously that when explosion is initiated in a thin confined layer of nitroglycerine by impact or by condenser spark, the characteristic pattern of pressure marks impressed on the confining surfaces indicates that the explosion proceeds through the layer in at least two successive stages1,2. This conclusion is supported by the disposition of the luminous effects observed when the explosion is initiated on a photographic plate or on a transparent anvil at the focus of a camera2.

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References

  1. Bowden, F. P., Eirich, F., Ferguson, A. E., and Yoffe, A., Coun. Sci. Ind. Res. (Aust.) Bull., 167 (1943).

  2. Bowden, F. P., Eirich, F., Mulcahy, M. F. R., Vines, R. G., and Yoffe, A., Coun. Sci. Ind. Res. (Aust.) Bull., 173 (1943).

  3. Bone, W. A., and Fraser, R. P., Phil. Trans., A, 228, 197 (1929).

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  4. Bowden, F. P., Mulcahy, M. F. R., Vines, R. G., and Yoffe, A., Nature, 157, 105 (1946).

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  5. cf. Jones, F., Chariton, J. B., and Ratner, S. B., Proc. Roy. Soc., A, 120, 603 (1928); C.R. Acad. Sci. (U.R.S.S.), 41, 293 (1943).

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  6. cf. Bone, W. A., and Townend, D. T. A., "Flame and Combustion in Gases" (Longmans, 1927). Egerton, A., and Gates, S. F., Proc. Roy. Soc., A, 114, 137 (1927). Bone, W. A., Fraser, R. P., and Wheeler, W. H., Phil. Trans., A, 235, 29 (1935).

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VINES, R., MULCAHY, M. Initial Stages of the Explosion of Nitroglycerine. Nature 157, 626 (1946). https://doi.org/10.1038/157626a0

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