AMMONIUM NITRATE

Updated 05-May-2020.

Mondo shtuff from around the internet, all about AMMONIUM NITRATE!

Airbag Compound Has Vexed Takata for Years: For nearly two decades, the company has struggled to tame ammonium nitrate, an inexpensive but unstable compound used to inflate its airbags.

Afghan bomb makers shifting to new explosives for IEDs: Efforts to cut off the flow of fertilizer ammonium nitrate have forced Taliban to new fuel.

My botty best at summarizing from Wikipedia: ammonium nitrate has the chemical formula NH4NO3, simplified to N2H4O3 . it is predominantly used in agriculture as a high-nitrogen fertilizer . its other major use is as many countries are phasing out its use in consumer applications due to concerns over its potential for misuse . ammonium nitrate was mined there in the past, but virtually 100% of the chemical now used is synthetic AN melt is then made into “prills” or small beads in a spray tower, or into granules . ammonia required for this process is obtained by the Haber process from nitrogen and hydrogen the type V crystal is a quasicubic form related to caesium chloride . it is less concentrated than urea (46-0-0), giving ammonium nitrate a slight transportation disadvantage . a ban on ammonium sulfate was imposed in the former malakand division . it followed reports that the chemicals were used by militants to make explosives . due to these bans, “pot ammonium nitrate reacts with combustible and reducing materials as a strong oxidant . it was sometimes used to blast away earth to make farm ponds . Numerous safety guidelines are ammonium nitrate has a critical relative humidity of 59.4%, above which it will absorb moisture from the atmosphere . it should not be stored near combustible substances . the potential for use of ammonium nitrate as an explosive has prompted regulatory measures . licences are granted only to applicants with appropriate security measures in place to prevent any misuse . additional uses such as education and research purposes stockpiles of ammonium nitrate can be a major fire risk due to supporting oxidation . explosion happens by the mechanism of shock-to-detonation transition . the explosion results from pure, compact AN is stable and very difficult to ignite . numerous cases exist when even impure AN did not explode in a fire . “deflagration-to-detonation transition” is a