The AN in this case having sat in a seaside warehouse for years,
"completely inhibited from moisture" seems unlikely, even if it was
manufactured phase-stabilized (and not just the widely assumed standard
farm AN.)
I think we can safely rule out entirely the tech level required to make
long-term storable rocket motors here.
Seaside damp may however account for some of the intensity of the blast
- didn't someone mention that some added water was one way to
significantly increase AN's 40% TNT-equivalency?
Henry
On 8/4/2020 8:51 PM, Troy Prideaux wrote:
The shelf life of ANCPs isn’t necessarily short. If the AN is phased stabilised well enough and the propellant is processed with enough cleverness and it’s completely inhibited from moisture, the shelf life can be extended to years although that’s at the expense of some performance as phase stabilising AN adequately doesn’t come for free.
Troy
*From:*arocket-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:arocket-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *Henry Vanderbilt
*Sent:* Wednesday, 5 August 2020 12:59 PM
*To:* arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
*Subject:* [AR] Re: Beirut blast due to ammonium nitrate???
To sum up, a reserve stock for tac ballistic missile production is possible, as practical AN motor designs exist, but they tend not to have great shelf life.
