itr 
 
 UC-NRLF 
 
 
 
So. 1870 
 
 METHOD OF INVESTIGATION 
 AND TEST OF 
 
 SMOKELESS POWDER 
 
 FOR SMALL ARMS AND CANNOtf 
 
 FEBRUARY 10, 1910 
 
 REVISED JULY 25, 1913 
 
 REVISED JANUARY 18, 1917 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
 1917 
 
No. 1870 
 
 METHOD OF INVESTIGATION 
 AND TEST OF 
 
 SMOKELESS POWDER 
 
 FOR SMALL ARMS AND CANNON 
 
 FEBRUARY 10, 1910 
 
 REVISED JULY 25, 1913 
 
 REVISED JANUARY 18, 1917 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
 1917 
 
METHOD OF INVESTIGATION AND TEST OF SMOKELESS 
 POWDER FOR SMALL ARMS AND CANNON. 
 
 I. IM <>l;.M.M InX TO BE Fl l;MMM.l> IJV Till. I \ \ I NTOR. 
 
 1. Form of granulation. 
 
 2. Chemical composition (confidential if desired). 
 
 3. Method and facility of manufacture (confidential if desired) 
 and time required for manufacture. 
 
 4. Relative strength or force as compared with black powder or 
 with nitrocellulose smokeless powder ; if estimated, explain method ; 
 if determined by experiment, state how. If not known, so statr. 
 
 5. Results of tests, if any, that have been made to show 
 
 (a) Safety in handling. 
 
 (b) Keeping qualities under exposure to moisture, heat, cold, and 
 continued storage. 
 
 6. Actual firing tests from guns, if any. 
 
 NOTE. Concise answers under the separate headings are desired. 
 
 II. LABORATORY EXAMINATION TO BE MADE. 
 
 Make as many of the following tests as are applicable to the 
 powder submitted: 
 
 1. Make complete quantitative chemical analysis, and determine 
 calculated force and temperature of explosion. 
 
 2. Analyze the products of combustion. 
 
 3. If the chemical analysis indicates a possibility of detonation, 
 determine this by exploding successive samples of the powder, using 
 detonators of increasing strength. 
 
 4. Determine sensitiveness to shock and friction as compared with 
 nitrocellulose smokeless powder by firing bullets at varying velocities 
 through layers of varying thickness, depending upon the granulation 
 of the powder. 
 
 5. Determine specific gravity and gravimetric density. 
 
 6. Note hygroscopic qualities. 
 
 7. Determine residue from flash and mineral ash as approximate 
 measures of fouling qualities. 
 
 8. Determine degree of smokelessness as compared with nitro<vl- 
 lulose smokeless powder. 
 
 7780017 ' " ' 
 
iX 9, Determine sh'l>ilit\ by making as manj^ of the following service 
 !itv teFts i'or ^Mokeless powder, or modifications thereof, as the 
 composition of the powder submitted will permit of 
 (a) K. I. starch test at 65.5 C. and 82 C. 
 (Z>) 135 German test (run for 5 hours). 
 (<?) 115 Ordnance Department test. 
 
 (d) Surveillance test at 65.5 and 80 (carry to red fumes or ex- 
 plosion). 
 
 (e) Surveillance test at 40 C. (carry to whitening of X/10 M. V. 
 paper). 
 
 10. Determine temperature of ignition. 
 
 11. Determine the melting point, if any, or if the powder is a 
 mechanical mixture of chemical compounds some of which have 
 melting points, determine them. 
 
 12. If powder is for cannon of 3-inch or greater caliber, determine 
 the toughness of the grains by making a compression test on grains 
 cut so that the length is equal to the diameter, and by side-impact test. 
 
 13. Determine the rapidity of burning in open air as compared 
 with that of nitrocellulose smokeless powder. 
 
 III. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS. 
 
 A satisfactory powder for small arms and cannon should comply 
 with the following requirements: 
 
 SAFETY AND I X S K N S LT I YENESS. 
 
 1. Should be reasonably safe in manufacture and free from very 
 injurious effects upon the operatives. 
 
 2. Should not be very much more sensitive to ignition by bullets 
 fired into it than nitrocellulose powder. 
 
 3. Should be incapable of detonation by the strongest detonator. 
 
 4. Should not produce any more erosion of the bore than produced 
 by the present nitrocellulose smokeless pow T ders. 
 
 5. When a grain or a cylinder of the powder is cut so that its length 
 is equal to its diameter, and is then compressed along its axis, no 
 cracks should appear before the total compression is 35 per cent of 
 the original length. - 
 
 6. The powder should not show undue brittleness by any other 
 established test. 
 
 7. The rapidity of burning of the powder when ignited in the open 
 air should not be very much greater than that of nitrocellulose 
 powder of similar granulation. 
 
 8. The products of combustion must not be poisonous to an objec- 
 tionable degree. 
 
 BALLISTIC REQUIREMENTS. 
 
 1. The powder must, with proper granulation, be capable of giving 
 at least the adopted muzzle velocities, in all the service guns, within 
 the maximum pressures prescribed for them. 
 
'2. Tht> heating of the BBTvice guns when tired with the adopted 
 mu//le velocities must , H ,t be greater than that produced under lik- 
 conditions liy nitrocellulose powder. 
 
 :'. The powder must be pr ict icall y siuokele. and mu>t not unduly 
 foul the bore. 
 
 -I. It must not require an unduly Mroni: primer for iirnition. 
 
 5. The products of combustion must have no more ehemical art ion 
 on metals than those of nitrocellulose powder. 
 
 STABILITY. 
 
 The following are minima requirements (longer tests highly de- 
 arable) : 
 
 1. The powder nm.M not explode in le>s than five hours when sub- 
 jected to the 135 German test. 
 
 J. The powder must not give red fumes nor explode in less than 
 *'>" days when subjected to the surveillance test at r>:,.:> C. 
 
 3. The powder must not give red fumes nor explode in less than 
 30 days when subjected to the surveillance test at 80 C. nor whiten 
 the X In M. V. paper in less than 60 days when subjected to the sur- 
 veillance te-t at in C. 
 
 I. After prolonged storage at the ordinary temperature the pow- 
 der must show no marked loss in stability as measured by the pre- 
 ceding tests nor any material cbange in the charge-velocity-pressure 
 relations. 
 
 5. The powder must show no marked change in any of its charac- 
 teristics between temperatures of 15 C. and +50 C. 
 
 I-. The powder must be practically nonhygroscopic. If the powder 
 contains any ingredients soluble in water, it should be definitely 
 stated 
 
 (J.NKKAI.. 
 
 of raw material. It should be possible to secure all the raw 
 materials entering the powder in this country without undue delay 
 and at a reasonable cost. 
 
 Grun'iltit'ton. It is desirable, but not essential, that the powder 
 permit being granulated in such a way that the burning surface of a 
 Hi a in increases with the proportion of the grain burnt. 
 
 loading*' -^Vlien granulated for small arms, the powder 
 be capable of being machine loaded. 
 
 \V.\K I >KI'Ai:i V 
 
 QrWU i. <>i mi: <'HIKI 0V < >i;i.\ \ 
 
 Wiixliiiiiitim. Jtninary 18, 1917. 
 
 IVi.runry in. l'.Hi. 
 
 .Inlv 25, T.H3. 
 -.ii.irv 18, I'.'IT. 
 
 F..UM NO. 1^7". 
 
 K.I. JMII. 1 IT 1. ...... 
 
 062.1/1!' \o. 1870. 
 
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