Evaluation of Black Powder Produced by Indiana Army Ammunition Plant

摘要

Closed-bomb techniques were used to determine quickness and burning-rate equations for two standard class-one black powders made by DuPont and GOEX; these results were compared to similar measurements on material produced by the Indiana Army Ammunition Plant. The differences in burning-rate exponents derived from closed-bomb and strand burn-rate experiments are discussed in terms of modes of combustion. Other comparisons were made between the black powders using flame-spread rate data obtained in 105mm Howitzer primer tubes both plugged and unplugged. Other parameters investigated include: free volumes, strand-burn rates, true and bulk densities, and grain-size distributions. It is suggested that black powder produced by the Indiana Army Ammunition Plant is becoming, or has become, the mose extensively characterized lot of black powder produced in the United States.