A solid-propellant rocket or solid rocket is a rocket with a rocket engine that uses solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder; The inception of gunpowder rockets in warfare can be credited to ancient Chinese ingenuity, and in the 13th century, the Mongols played a pivotal role in facilitating their westward adoption.
HMX, also called octogen, is a powerful and relatively insensitive nitroamine high explosive, chemically related to RDX. The compound's name is the subject of much speculation, having been variously listed as High Melting Explosive, High-velocity Military Explosive, or High-Molecular-weight RDX.
Polymer-bonded explosives, also called PBX or plastic-bonded explosives, are explosive materials in which explosive powder is bound together in a matrix using small quantities of a synthetic polymer. PBXs are normally used for explosive materials that are not easily melted into a casting, or are otherwise difficult to form.
Octanitrocubane (molecular formula: C8(NO2)8) is a proposed high explosive that, like TNT, is shock-insensitive (not readily detonated by shock). The octanitrocubane molecule has the same chemical structure as cubane (C8H8) except that each of the eight hydrogen atoms is replaced by a nitro group (NO2). As of 1998, octanitrocubane had not been produced in quantities large enough to test its performance as an explosive.
Dinitrogen pentoxide is the chemical compound with the formula N2O5. It is one of the binary nitrogen oxides, a family of compounds that only contain nitrogen and oxygen. It exists as colourless crystals that sublime slightly above room temperature, yielding a colorless gas.
FOX-7 or 1,1-diamino-2,2-dinitroethylene(DADNE) is an insensitive high explosive compound. It was first synthesized in 1998 by the Swedish National Defence Research Institute (FOS). The name FOX-7 is derived from the acronym of the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI), with the I replaced by an X to indicate an explosive, as in RDX and HMX.
Nitroguanidine - sometimes abbreviated NGu - is a colorless, crystalline solid that melts at 257 °C and decomposes at 254 °C. Nitroguanidine is an extremely insensitive but powerful high explosive. Wetting it with > 20 wt.-% water effects desensitization from HD 1.1 down to HD 4.1 . Nitroguanidine is used as an energetic material, i.e., propellant or high explosive, precursor for insecticides, and for other purposes.
Lithium perchlorate is the inorganic compound with the formula LiClO4. This white or colourless crystalline salt is noteworthy for its high solubility in many solvents. It exists both in anhydrous form and as a trihydrate.
TATB, triaminotrinitrobenzene or 2,4,6-triamino-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene is an aromatic explosive, based on the basic six-carbon benzene ring structure with three nitro functional groups (NO2) and three amine (NH2) groups attached, alternating around the ring.
This is a compilation of published detonation velocities for various high explosive compounds. Detonation velocity is the speed with which the detonation shock wave travels through the explosive. It is a key, directly measurable indicator of explosive performance, but depends on density which must always be specified, and may be too low if the test charge diameter is not large enough. Especially for little studied explosives there may be divergent published values due to charge diameter issues. In liquid explosives, like nitroglycerin, there may be two detonation velocities, one much higher than the other. The detonation velocity values presented here are typically for the highest practical density which maximizes achievable detonation velocity.
Diazonium compounds or diazonium salts are a group of organic compounds sharing a common functional group [R−N+≡N]X− where R can be any organic group, such as an alkyl or an aryl, and X is an inorganic or organic anion, such as a halide.
Carbon monofluoride (CF, CFx, or (CF)n), also called polycarbon monofluoride (PMF), polycarbon fluoride, poly(carbon monofluoride), and graphite fluoride, is a material formed by high-temperature reaction of fluorine gas with graphite, charcoal, or pyrolytic carbon powder. It is a highly hydrophobic microcrystalline powder. Its CAS number is 51311-17-2. In contrast to graphite intercalation compounds it is a covalent graphite compound.
Benzylamine is an organic chemical compound with the condensed structural formula C6H5CH2NH2 (sometimes abbreviated as PhCH2NH2 or BnNH2). It consists of a benzyl group, C6H5CH2, attached to an amine functional group, NH2. This colorless water-soluble liquid is a common precursor in organic chemistry and used in the industrial production of many pharmaceuticals. The hydrochloride salt was used to treat motion sickness on the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission in which NASA astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth.
Ammonium dinitramide (ADN) is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula [NH4][N(NO2)2]. It is the ammonium salt of dinitraminic acid HN(NO2)2. It consists of ammonium cations [NH4]+ and dinitramide anions −N(NO2)2. ADN decomposes under heat to leave only nitrogen, oxygen, and water.
In materials science, cocrystals are "solids that are crystalline, single-phase materials composed of two or more different molecular or ionic compounds generally in a stoichiometric ratio which are neither solvates nor simple salts." A broader definition is that cocrystals "consist of two or more components that form a unique crystalline structure having unique properties." Several subclassifications of cocrystals exist.
A two-dimensional polymer (2DP) is a sheet-like monomolecular macromolecule consisting of laterally connected repeat units with end groups along all edges. This recent definition of 2DP is based on Hermann Staudinger's polymer concept from the 1920s. According to this, covalent long chain molecules ("Makromoleküle") do exist and are composed of a sequence of linearly connected repeat units and end groups at both termini.
Adam J. Matzger, a researcher in polymers and crystals, is the Charles G. Overberger Collegiate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Michigan.
Tomislav Friščić holds the Leverhulme International Professorship and Chair in Green and Sustainable chemistry at the University of Birmingham. His research focus is at the interface of green chemistry and materials science, developing solvent-free chemistry and mechanochemistry for the cleaner, efficient synthesis of molecules and materials, including organic solids such as pharmaceutical cocrystals, coordination polymers and Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), and a wide range of organic targets such as active pharmaceutical ingredients. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), member of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada and a corresponding member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. He has served on the Editorial Board of CrystEngComm, the Early Career Board of the ACS journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, and was an Associate Editor for the journal Molecular Crystals & Liquid Crystals as well as for the journal Synthesis. He was a Topic Editor and Social Media Editor, and is currently a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the journal Crystal Growth & Design published by the American Chemical Society (ACS). He famously has a dog named Zizi.
Iodine azide is an explosive inorganic compound, which in ordinary conditions is a yellow solid. Formally, it is an inter-pseudohalogen.
Topochemical polymerization is a polymerization method performed by monomers aligned in the crystal state. In this process, the monomers are crystallised and polymerised under external stimuli such as heat, light, or pressure. Compared to traditional polymerisation, the movement of monomers was confined by the crystal lattice in topochemical polymerisation, giving rise to polymers with high crystallinity, tacticity, and purity. Topochemical polymerisation can also be used to synthesise unique polymers such as polydiacetylene that are otherwise hard to prepare.
