Nitroglycerin - Instability and Desensitization

Instability and Desensitization

In its pure form, nitroglycerin is a primary contact explosive, with physical shock causing it to explode, and it degrades over time to even more unstable forms. This makes nitroglycerin highly dangerous to transport or use. In this undiluted form, it is one of the world's more powerful explosives, comparable to the more recently-developed RDX and PETN, as well as the plastic explosive C-4—which contains 90 to 92 percent of RDX as its active ingredient.

Early in the history of nitroglycerin, it was discovered that liquid nitroglycerin can be "desensitized" by cooling it to about 5 to 10 °C (40 to 50 °F). At this temperature nitroglycerin freezes, contracting upon solidification. However, thawing it out can be extremely sensitizing, especially if impurities are present or if the warming is too rapid. It is possible to chemically "desensitize" nitroglycerin to a point where it can be considered approximately as "safe" as modern high explosives, such as by the addition of approximately 10 to 30 percent ethanol, acetone, or dinitrotoluene. (The percentage varies with the desensitizing agent used.) Desensitization requires extra effort to reconstitute the "pure" product. Failing this, it must be assumed that desensitized nitroglycerin is substantially more difficult to detonate, possibly rendering it useless as an explosive for practical application.

A serious problem in the use of nitroglycerin results from its high freezing point 13 °C (55 °F). Solid nitroglycerin is much less sensitive to shock than the liquid, a feature that is common in explosives. In the past, nitroglycerin was often shipped in the frozen state, but this resulted in a high number of accidents during the thawing process just before its use. This disadvantage is overcome by using mixtures of nitroglycerin with other polynitrates. For example, a mixture of nitroglycerin and ethylene glycol dinitrate freezes at −29 °C (−20 °F).