Help us provide free content to the world by donating today!

RDX
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

For other uses, see RDX (disambiguation).
RDX

1,3,5-
IUPAC
Trinitroperhydro-
name
1,3,5-triazine

RDX
Other 1,3,5-Trinitro-
names 1,3,5-
triazacyclohexane

Identifiers

CAS
[121-82-4]
number

PubChem 8490

UN number 0072, 0391, 0483

SMILES [show]

Properties

Molar mass 222.12 g/mol

Appearance Colorless crystals

Density 1.82 g/cm3

 Melting
205.5 °C, 479 K,
point
402 °F

Boiling 234 °C, 507 K,

point 453 °F
Explosive data
Shock
Low
sensitivity
Friction
Low
sensitivity
Explosive 8,750 metres per
velocity second
RE factor 1.60
Except where noted otherwise, data
are given for
materials in their standard state
(at 25 °C, 100 kPa)
Infobox references

Cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine, also known as RDX, cyclonite, hexogen, and T4, is an

explosive nitroamine widely used in military and industrial applications. Nomenclature
variants include cyclotrimethylene-trinitramine and cyclotrimethylene trinitramine.

In its pure, synthesized state RDX is a white, crystalline solid. As an explosive it is

usually used in mixtures with other explosives and plasticizers, phlegmatizers or
desensitizers. It is stable in storage and is considered one of the most powerful and
brisant of the military high explosives.[1]

RDX forms the base for a number of common military explosives: Composition A (wax-
coated, granular explosive consisting of RDX and plasticizing wax), composition A5
(mixed with 1.5% stearic acid), Composition B (castable mixtures of RDX and TNT),
Composition C (a plastic demolition explosive consisting of RDX, other explosives, and
plasticizers), Composition D, HBX (castable mixtures of RDX, TNT, powdered
aluminium, and D-2 wax with calcium chloride), H-6, and C-4.

RDX is also used as a major component of many plastic bonded explosives used in
nuclear weapons.

Contents
[hide]
 • 1 Properties
• 2 History
o 2.1 UK and Canadian production
o 2.2 US - Bachmann process
o 2.3 Use
o 2.4 Names
• 3 References
o 3.1 Notes
o 3.2 Bibliography

• 4 External links

[edit] Properties
The velocity of detonation of RDX at a density of 1.76 g/cm³ is 8,750 meters per second.

It is a colourless solid, of maximum theoretical density 1.82 g/cm³. It is obtained by

reacting concentrated nitric acid with hexamine.

(CH2)6N4 + 4HNO3 → (CH2-N-NO2)3 + 3HCHO + NH4+ + NO3-

It is a heterocycle and has the molecular shape of a ring. It starts to decompose at about
170 °C and melts at 204 °C. Its structural formula is: hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-
triazine or (CH2-N-NO2)3.

At room temperature, it is very stable. It burns rather than explodes and detonates only
with a detonator, being unaffected even by small arms fire. It is less sensitive than
pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN). However, it is very sensitive when crystallized,
below −4 °C.

Under normal conditions, RDX has a figure of insensitivity of exactly 80 (as this is the
reference point).

RDX sublimates in vacuum, which limits its use in pyrotechnic fasteners for spacecraft.

[edit] History
The discovery of RDX dates from 1899 when Georg Friedrich Henning obtained a
German patent for its manufacture, by nitrating hexamethylenetetramine nitrate.[2] In his
first patent, he cited its use as a medicine.[2] Its explosive properties were not discovered
until 1920s when G. C. V. Herz obtained a British patent in 1921 and a U.S. patent in
1922, for its manufacture by nitrating hexamethylenetetramine.[2] Later in the 1920s RDX
was produced by the direct nitration of hexamine.
RDX was used by both sides in World War II.

[edit] UK and Canadian production

In the United Kingdom RDX was manufactured in pilot plants at the RGPF Waltham
Abbey in 1938 and at the Research Department at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich.[3] In
1939 a twin-unit industrial-scale plant was designed to be installed at a new 700 acre
(283 ha) site, ROF Bridgwater, away from London; and production of RDX started at
Bridgwater in 1941.[3] The United Kingdom attempted to be self-sufficient in the early
stages of the war, and at this time the USA was still a neutral country; Canada, a member
of the British Commonwealth, was looked upon to supply ammunition and explosives,
including RDX.

A slightly different method of production, but still using hexamine, was found and used
in Canada, possibly at the McGill University Department of Chemistry. Urbanski[2]
provides details of five methods of production.

[edit] US - Bachmann process

Near the beginning of World War II the US Government turned to Tennessee Eastman
Company (TEC), Kingsport, Tennessee, US, a leading manufacturer of acetic anhydride,
to develop a continuous-flow manufacturing process for RDX.[citation needed] RDX was
crucial to the war effort and the current batch-production process could not keep up. The
US began research to safely make large quantities of RDX. Werner Emmanuel
Bachmann of the University of Michigan developed the “combination process” which
required large quantities of acetic anhydride instead of nitric acid in the old British
“Woolwich process”. In February 1942, TEC built the Wexler Bend pilot plant and began
producing small amounts of RDX. This led to the US Government authorizing TEC to
design and build Holston Ordnance Works (H.O.W.) in June 1942. By April 1943, RDX
was being manufactured there.[4] The US Bachmann process for RDX was found to be
richer in HMX than the United Kingdom's RDX. This later led to a RDX plant using the
Bachmann process being set up at ROF Bridgwater in 1955, to produce both RDX and
HMX.

[edit] Use

This section needs additional citations for verification.

Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged
and removed. (September 2008)

RDX was widely used during World War II, often in explosive mixtures with TNT such
as Torpex. RDX was used in one of the first plastic explosives. RDX is believed to have
been used in many bomb plots including terrorist plots. It was said to have been used in
the Bombay (Mumbai) serial bomb blasts of 12 March 1993 in which more than 300
people were killed and about 1,500 injured. Again, on 11 July 2006, a series of powerful
explosions took place on seven suburban railway trains on Mumbai's Western Railway
line killing 209 and injuring over 700. The use of RDX by the Islamic terrorist outfit
Lashkar-e-Toiba in this incident was subsequently confirmed by India's state
investigating agencies. It was recently used in the serial Jaipur blasts, as well as in the
Islamabad Marriott Hotel bomb blast of 20th September 2008 in which more than 50
people were killed and more than 300 people were injured.

Outside of military applications, RDX is also used in controlled demolition to implode

structures. The demolition of the Jamestown Bridge in the U.S. state of Rhode Island is
one example where RDX shaped charges were used to remove the span.

[edit] Names

There are many explanations for the name RDX, including (but not limited to) Royal
Demolition eXplosive, Research Department (composition) X and Research Department
eXplosive. Research Department composition X is most likely correct.[3] In the United
Kingdom, new military explosives were given an identification number preceded by the
letters 'RD' indicating 'Research Department No.'.[3] For some reason, this explosive was
unable to be given a number. Instead, the letter 'X' was appended to indicate 'unknown'
with the intention of adding the number later.

The first public reference in the United Kingdom to the name RDX, or R.D.X to use the
official title, appears in 1948; its authors were the Managing Chemist, ROF Bridgwater,
the Chemical Research and Development Department, Woolwich, and the Director of
Royal Ordnance Factories, Explosives; it is referred to as simply RDX.[5]

Davis, writing in the USA in 1943, stated it was generally known in the USA as
cyclonite; the Germans called it Hexogen, the Italians T4.[6]

[edit] References
[edit] Notes

1. ^ TM 9-1300-214. US Army.
2. ^ a b c d Urbanski (1967) Volume 3
3. ^ a b c d Cocroft, Wayne D.(2000). Dangerous Energy: The archaeology of gunpowder
and military explosives manufacture. Swindon: [[English Heritage. ISBN 1-85074-718-0.
4. ^ WE Bachmann, JC Sheehan (1949). "A New Method of Preparing the High Explosive
RDX1". Journal of the American Chemical Society, 1949 (5): 1842–1845.
5. ^ Simmons (1948), Part II and III.
6. ^ Davis (1943) Volume II.

[edit] Bibliography

• Cooper, Paul W. (1996). Explosives Engineering. New York: Wiley-VCH. ISBN

0-471-18636-8.
 • Davis, Tenney L. (1943). The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives, Volume II.
New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
• Urbanski, Tadeusz (1967). Chemistry and Technology of Explosives, Vol. III.
Warszawa: Polish Scientific Publishers.
• Meyer, Rudolf (1987). Explosives, 3rd Edition. VCH Publishers. ISBN 0-89573-
600-4.
• Simmons, W.H., Forster, A. and Bowden, R.C., (1948). "The Manufacture of
R.D.X. in Great Britain: Part II - Raw Materials and Ancillary Processes", in: The
Industrial Chemist, Pages 530 - 545, August 1948.
• Simmons, W.H., Forster, A. and Bowden, R.C., (1948). "The Manufacture of
R.D.X. in Great Britain: Part III - Production of the Explosive", in: The Industrial
Chemist, Pages 593 - 601, September 1948.
• Henning, German Patent 104,280 (1899).

[edit] External links

• Prva Iskra Namenska AD (Serbia)
• ADI Limited (Australia)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RDX"

Categories: Explosives | Nitroamines | Triazines
Hidden categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced
statements since February 2008 | Articles needing additional references from September
2008

Views

• Article
• Discussion
• Edit this page
• History

Personal tools

• Log in / create account

Navigation

• Main page
• Contents
• Featured content
• Current events
• Random article
Search

Go Search

Interaction

• About Wikipedia
• Community portal
• Recent changes
• Contact Wikipedia
• Donate to Wikipedia
• Help

Toolbox

• What links here

• Related changes
• Upload file
• Special pages
• Printable version
• Permanent link
• Cite this page

Languages

• Български
• Česky
• Dansk
• Deutsch
• Español
• Français
• Italiano
• ‫עברית‬
• Latviešu
• Lietuvių
• Magyar
• മലയാളം
• Nederlands
• 日本語
• Polski
• Português
• Русский
• Slovenčina
• Slovenščina
• Suomi
• Svenska
• Tiếng Việt
• Türkçe
• Українська
• 中文

• This page was last modified on 27 September 2008, at 17:05.

• All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
(See Copyrights for details.)
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S.
registered 501(c)(3) tax-deductible nonprofit charity.
• Privacy policy
• About Wikipedia
• Disclaimers