,_ . _ :/~:i~~/i·; ,_', .; , DEVELOPMENT, CHARACTERIZATION AND TESTING OF LOGALLY

[' . ,." ,

SOURCED EXPLOSIVE

BY

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:.-.,.:,. ABDULLAHI SHUAIBU MUYE

"

2003/14915EH

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In';'

__ . - ,:l DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

.FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

MINNA.NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

NOVEMBER, 2008

)1 /' , i . ~'i\

DECLARATION

"I ABDULLAHI SHUAIBU MUYE (2003114915EH) hereby deClare that this research .,

project is my original work and has not been submitted in any foml for another degr~e or i.

diploma in any universit:(Ql' institution to the best of my knowledge. All sources of inforrqation

and quotations are dully acknowledged.

Date

iii ,

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CERTIFICATION

This is to celiify that this resear~Jl project "Development, Characterization and Testing of -.'\

Locally Sourced Explosive" by Abdullahi Shuaibu Muye (2003114915EH) was carried out under

the supervision of Dr. 'M 0 Edoga and submitted,to the Department of Chemical Engineering, r

(

" School of Engineering and Engineering Technology, Federal University of Teclmo19gy, Mimla, c .

. . Niger State in partial fulfillment of the\equirement for the award of Bachelor of ~~gineering .. ) I

(B. Eng.) Degree in Chemical Engineering.

.. , ,,'

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(Project supervisor) .'

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, I . (Head of Department) '.

, Externai Examinar

iv

Date

13 - 1/-Date

Date

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DEDICATION

This. research project is dedicate~ to Almighty ALLAH (SW) for seing me through this

project work and my entire program.

v

AKNOWLEDGEMENT

In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful. All praises and thanks are due to Allah "'

(SW) t1le creator of all things and the ~ontroller of all aiIairs who sent down the criter~bn

betweefi right and wronKto His messengers and prophets to judge between mankind with jus~~ce. May tlAe peace and blessings of Allah (S~W) be upon His servant and messenger Mohammad

(SAW), his family, his companions and aU',those who followed the truth up to the last day. ~'\ . r

For too many have contributed for 'the success of this project than I could possibly

acknowledge here. The length of time it tqok and the peculiar circumstances under which it was '1

carried out has left me feeling so indebtecMhat I am unable to mention every help I received

individually.

However, my deepest appreciation goes to my late parents Alhaji Abdullahi Zubairu

Babakan~ani and Mallama F~tima Abdullahi. May Allah (SW) grant them Paradise (Amin). " '\

I am deeply indebted to acknowledge with gratitude, the wonderful effort of my able

supervisor and head of the department Dr. M 0 Edoga as well as Engr. Paul Dim for their

guidance during the course of this project work. They thought me humility, patience, discipline

and professionalism. My appreciations also goes to all the staffs and students of the Department

of chemical engineering, Federal Uiliversity of Technology, Milma, Niger State. To my course

mates GBOSA to you all. l'he sky shall be your limit. . ::;~~}}

My warmest and sincere appr~clation goes to the lflembers of my family late mal.

. Masudu Abdullahi, mal. .Tibrin Abdullahi, mal. Musa Abdullahi, late Engr. S B Abdul and,

family, Alh. Jibrin Abdul and family, Alh. Muhammed R. Abdul and family, mal. Saidu Umar

and family, mal. Muhammed Sidi, H~j. Amina Abdul, Zainab, Bilkisu, Habiba, Hassana,

" Hussaina and Salihu Abdul, Abdulmalik:, Maryam, Abdulrahman, Salamatu, Isah, Abubakar,

Fatima Shehu Adamu among others who in one way or the other gave me the support and

encouragement through out my stay in this institution and contributed immensely to the

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su~cessful completion of this project. May Allah (SW) in His infinite mercy continue to bless

and reword them abundantly.

It is also my pleasure to aknowledge with gratitude the wonderful support and friendship '\ . .

"".~ of Haruna Usman, Ahmed B. Yahaya, Shuaibu Musa Agaga, Muhammed S. Adamu, ldris MusK

Usman, Dauda Yusuf Nyimi, mal A~~ullahi Musa Agaga, Hassan Mahmud (Scatter),

Mohammed Jibrin Gozhi, Salihu Abdullah\!;Yelwa, Hon. Ibrahim Abubakar Favu, Aisha, Bashira ~;-J

2 " " B , Ahmed Haruna. To all of you, Allah (S~) will continue to bless you. In deed you are simply '~

"i,,{>;

the best. \, jf;,

)

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

. ~ _____________________________________________________ -------1

Tltle page ---------~-------------------------- ..

. , . ________________________________________ ..; _______________________ i i

Declaration ----------------------------------;. ~"

\~ .. . . ... _____________________________________ ..: __________ ~ _____ --------Ui

CertificatIOn ---------------------------------~- · • """:, -;'f

• • 1,1 ___________________________ ~---------------------iv

Ded1cation .~-----------------------------------;;------------

Ak

. 1 d t \, - _______________________________________ v

now e gelnen -----------------------------",------------------- -.'\ "-"' Table of contents ________________________________ )~ _________________________________________________________ vi

Abstract ________________ .. _______________________ ~:_;-----------------------------------------------------------xi ~l}

List of tab Ie _____________________________ --------~i:--------------------------... ------------------------------xii

CHAPTER ONE

1,0 11q,1'Fl()DLJCTI()~ __________________ ~-----------------------------------______________________________ 1

1.1 Aim and ()bjective ________________ .: ___________________________________________________________________ 2

'~}

" 1.2 Approach ___________________________ 1 _______________________________________________________________ 2

1.3 J ustipcation ______________________________________________________ ----------------------------------2

f i

CHAPTER TWO

2.0 LlTERATUFlE FlE

____________________________ . _______________________________________________ 3

2.1 Explosive ________________________________ -:_.; _____________________________ ------------------------------3

2.1.1 Types of explosive ________________ ~ _______________________ :. ____________________ --------------------3

2.1.2 Local explosives _____________________ ~;.'.::'_"'---------------------------_______________________________ 3 , I ,

2.2 Black Powder Explosive _______________ ;;:~ _________________________________________________________ 4

2.2.1 Standard for black powder explosive ______________________________________________________ ------5

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2.2.2 Explosive properties 0 r black powder _____________________ ------------------------------------5

2.2.3 Advantages of black powder explosive ______________________________________________________ ----6

2.2.4 Disadvantages of black powder expiosi ve ____________ ~ __________________________________________ 6

" 2.3 Composition of The Materials _________ " _____________________________________________________________ 6

2.4 Potassium Nitrate _____ -________________________ -____ -------------"-----________________________________ '7

2.4.1 Manufacture of potassium nitrate ___ ,, __ -----------------------------------------------------------7

2.4.2 Applications of potassium nitrate ________ , _______________________________________________________ 8

2. 5 Charcoal ____________________________________ ~_ ------------------------------------------------------------8

2.5.1 Types of charcoal _________________________ -----------------------------_______________________________ 8

2.5.2 Properties and uses of charcoal-----------------------------------------------______________________ 9

, '"

2}5.3 Manufacture of charcoal ______________________ ~ ______________________________________________________ 9

2.6 S ul fur ______________________________________________________________________________________________ :.. _____ 10

2.6.1 Extl:action of sulfur _______________ : __________________________________________________________________ 10

2.6.2 Characteristics and uses of sulfur ______________________________________________________ -----------11

2.7 Pyrotechnic Composition ________ -: ____________________________________________________________________ 11

" _4~r:\[,~t~\~. ' 2.8 Burning Rate of BlaRl?'Jlowder Explosive --------------------------------------------------------12 l '~" . ,., ,~, <f

:J;',.~:~:,.~.:.>

2.9 Testing of Black Powder Developed __ ~ ___________________________________________________ ----------13

CHAl)TER THREE

3.0 METHODO LOG Y _______________________ "' _______________________________________ + _______________ 14

3.1 Materials and Equipments _________________________________________________________ 1-_________________ 14

3.2 Preparation of Black Powder Explosive ______________________________________________________ -------15

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.~ ·i.A"",.

CHAPTER ONE )l1'

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

ExPlosive is a weapon design to "release enormous amounts or quantities of energy by .

exp~ding suddenly producing heat and l~ge changes inpressure. Explosives could be prod;'ced

chemically or\ocallY depending on the J, of materials to be used during the process. " ,:~~

.", . ~ .

Explosives are classified into two maj.tr classes. These are low (local) explosives such as

black powder, flash powder' etc. and h{gh (chemical) explosives such as nitroglycerin; , . ¥"\

,~

trinitrolOluene (TNT) etc. Others include sub ~igh explosives such as primary, secondary. and

., .;,~. ' .1 tectiary, explosives. In this research, emp~j,S will be based on the development of black powder {f! , e~M~' ( , 'I. I

! ' Black powder is a pyrotechnic qfimposition, an explosive mixture of potassium nitrate,

~

, ~. charcoal and sulfur that burns rapidly prMucing volumes of \lot solids and gases which can be

, . ~, .... ,~J .' '

~ed as " Pfopellant in firearms ande fireworks. The origin of black powder is obscure and dates·

. '"".:".';'". r ' back to very remote time. It was noi until the invention of firearms that the manufacture and uses

- ' .,..'

of bla2~ . .powder really began to devflop, sin~its mvention black powder has been employed in . . "",$" . .

~~~ 1 varioUs' engineering operations Sll\;h as mining, road building, dlim building, and land ~. . :.

'.,,!-/:

improveme~1t muongothersCLJrbanii T, 1967).

The decomposition rate of black powder is' so slow and consequently has low brisance ',; ,

':'f!,;" i" ., \ heti~<tclassified ~.,ll'l': plosive that is, it produces a subsonic deflagration wave rather than a

;: "', , '~;i!tt;{ \ \ sup<;rsonic detonali&ii'.ye produced b1,high explosives. The gases produced by burning black

>,' \Y,:',:

p6wder geniral« enough pressure to propel a bullet but not enough to destroy the barrel of a , ,,.:'.

t: firearm. This property of a black po'wd<;r makes it to be produced using locally sourced materials ) .

(Brown, G.!~ 1998).

1.1 Aim and Objective ,

The 81m of this research work is to develop an improved and efficient explosive ,

I

composition using locally sourced materials. \ ' Y ~ \

. SpecificallY, the objective is to inVe~igate black powder explosive which involves th,~ mixture of an oxidizer and fuel.

~ ,

,) 1.2 Approach ,.~,",

.,"\

1.

2.

3 ..

4.

The apP!o,ach to meeting this requirement ~volves the followings

l Develop a black powder explosiveBl~ing local materials.

. \ .

Characterize the black powder expl~ive developed. t ,...,"

Determine the burning rate ofth(developed black powder expl~sive. ," ~l

. Testing the performance efficiencJy of the black powder explosives developed. jt~t't*,>,,~'

1.3 JustificatiQu. .

The development of black powder explosive using locally sourced material is in line with

its den131)d~r.local use< 8jl a source of)income and to maximize the security system 8jl well 8jl

'., ,':,t":"-' >i{."\,,,,-,

improving'the standard of living of this natlon. , }P~ft'tP{i "

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2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Explosive

CHAIPTER TWO , )

i~ ( I l t "",\

'1

An explosive is any chemical or biolo~al mixture that is commonly used or intend~,d for , "

the purPose of producing an explosion and w\i'lch contain any oxidizing and combustive units or ""'''\ ' , '

other ingredients in such proportions, quantities d-r packing that an ignition by fire or by fric\lon f,

/ of any part of the compound or mixture may}ause such a sudden generation of highly heat6d /, (

, . t

gases' that the resultants gaseous pressur4 are capable of producing destructive effects of, ~)

contiguous objects or destroying life or lim!?j(Kelly J,2004). l'

2.1.1 Types of explosives

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There are a wide explosives };.1assifications or types. ,They include primary explosives,

low explosives; high explosives and blasting agents. Primary explosives include lead azide, lead ' ,<

sulpbatci""d mercury fulminate. They are very sensitive to the heat of fuses hence are good " .<: . , ,~, ,

detonators. Low explosives are usuallJ'rmixture of~ombustible substances and an oxidant that , ' ~

., ' \. '

decoD.1poses rapidly (deflagration). Cb~~mon ones are black power and flash powder which are

"prepared locally. High explosives include nitroglycerin, trinitrotoluene (TNT) and acetone , , ,"'\ '

,:, ' '~" peroxj'de all of whi\'lic.'lrry.,prepared ch'e(I1icallY and undergo detonation at iate of lOOmis to

',:.",t ., ),,', \ ' 9000m/s. They are':f~ih ,ed in mining, ~demolition and military war heads. Finally, blasting,

\ :'~}'~,~" .. ".. j

agents which includes ammonium nitrate + fuel oils (ANFO), dynamite and are all used for

, excavating and mining (Buchanan;1006~. '(

F?J the purpose of this rej,arch Wd;k, emphasis will be based on low (local) explosives, ;,:.: '\, .

rf'

2.1.2 Lohl explosives

Local explosives are usually mixture combustible substances and an oxidant that """\,

decomposes rapidly (deflagration) unlike mo~t high \;

"1 '~

explosives which are compounds. Low