From: AHAHMA%kontu.utu.fi@ssyx.ucsc.edu Subject: Re: quite mail list Date: 19 Mar 90 13:13:21 GMT >The "improvised plastic explosive", if it's the one I've >heard of (and never made) is a potassium perchorate explosive. >IT's made with bleach and white gasline, (I can post details if >youre really interested.) Anyway, its nothing like as good >as C4, and probably less stable. >-Ford Chlorates and perchlorates are really a good raw materials for these improvised stuffs. They can always be made to explode, if mixed with combustible materials and if the oxygen balance of the mixture is near zero (+- 50 %). The combustible material can be almost anything, wheat flour, soja oil or toilet paper will do fine. The "improvised plastic" seems to be quite the same I have used a long time ago. I only had sodium chlorate, but it worked just fine. As a fuel I had PVC or polystyrene dissolved in a plasticizer(phtalates, sebacates) or if I didn't have any plasticizer, I took xylene as the solvent. The finished product looked similar to C-4, but wasn't even nearly as effective. It did make a large puff of smoke and a bang, but it was almost ineffective on, for example, stone or steel. This stuff had also the same drawbacks as the fertilizer mixtures: a minimal charge, in this case about 0,5 kg. The mixture was also relatively hard to ignite, I had to take a small booster charge, the blasting cap alone was not enough, i.e. the mixture was actually too stable. If perchlorates are used (potassium or ammonium), the explosive will be a lot more brisant than with chlorates and safer, too. Still, the detonation velocity is under 4500 meters/second, which is not enough for unconfined charges. Hence, chlorates and perchlorates can effectively be used for mining purposes only, not for demolitions. 3P