Triple-base propellant/Related Articles

Triple-base propellant: Smokeless powder, used in artillery, made from nitrocellulose, nitroglycerin or another explosive plasticizer, and nitroguanidine; it burns with equivalent energy, but at a lower temperature than other propellants, thus reducing barrel wear, and has much less muzzle flash ^[e]

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Parent topics

• Explosives [r]: Explosive agent; a compound or mixture susceptible of a rapid chemical reaction, as gunpowder, or nitroglycerin. ^[e]
  • Gunpowder [r]: Generically, a low explosive used as a propellant, now smokeless powder; the older black powder was used as a warhead filler before the invention of high explosives; also used in pyrotechnics ^[e]
• Artillery [r]: Crew-served military devices for propelling payloads over distance ^[e]

Subtopics

• Nitrocellulose [r]: An early explosive of the aliphatic nitrate ester family, still widely used in smokeless gunpowder and some blasting explosives ^[e]
• Nitroglycerin [r]: A very unstable, shock-sensitive high-explosive which also has medical uses as a vasodilator in heart disease ^[e]
• Nitroguanidine [r]: An explosive with an especially low burning temperature, primarily used in firearms propellant charges to reduce barrel wear; a triple-base propellant combines nitroglycerin, nitrocellulose and nitroguanidine ^[e]

Other related topics

• Single-base propellant [r]: Used in cannons, small arms, and grenades, these are based on nitrocellulose as the explosive component, with stabilizers, plasticizers, and possibly organic nitrates (e.g., potassium nitrate or ammonium nitrate) ^[e]
• Double-base propellant [r]: A form of smokeless gunpowder with the primary constituents being nitrocellulose and a plasticizer, such as nitroglycerin or BTN (explosive) ^[e]