From the MSD's, they should list every major ingredient above a certain percentage, which I've thankfully forgot, but MSD's are seldome what they should be.
However, since the chemistry of explosives (at least low order explosives, the kind we're interested in) is rather simple we'd likely as not be able to see if anything important was missing.
Pyrodex:
Charcoal
Sulphur
Potassium Nitrate
Potassium Perchlorate
Graphite 2.5mg/m3 respirable dust
Triple 7:
Charcoal
Potassium Nitrate
Potassium Perchlorate
Graphite 2.5mg/m3 respirable dust
We can ignore the graphite as it's only used to coat the granulared powder.
I'd say the Pyrodex is nought but BP with enough Potassium Perchlorate mixed in to legally make it something else. I suspect that Pyrodex being harder to ignite as seems to be the commen perception here is due to a higher ignition temperature, which in this case means less Sulphur.
Triple 7 doesn't use sulphur at all which tells me that the perchlorate content is much higher than in Pyrodex, Sulphur and Potassium Perchlorate makes an interesting flash powder that is friction sensitive and unstable, imagine ramming your ramrod down on that...
Perchlorates give a higher burnrate than nitrates which would explain the 15% increase in power.
My conclusions would have to be that Pyrodex is a modified BP where a portion of the nitrate has been substituted for perchlorate and the ratios adjusted to give the same performance as regular BP.
Triple 7 is an old fashioned chlorate based propellant of the type used as high explosive from the civil war up to WW1 with Potassium Nitrate included to boost the smoke.
I'd say that anything else they put in would have very little to do with the burning proerties and more to do with manufacturing.
However, since the chemistry of explosives (at least low order explosives, the kind we're interested in) is rather simple we'd likely as not be able to see if anything important was missing.
Pyrodex:
Charcoal
Sulphur
Potassium Nitrate
Potassium Perchlorate
Graphite 2.5mg/m3 respirable dust
Triple 7:
Charcoal
Potassium Nitrate
Potassium Perchlorate
Graphite 2.5mg/m3 respirable dust
We can ignore the graphite as it's only used to coat the granulared powder.
I'd say the Pyrodex is nought but BP with enough Potassium Perchlorate mixed in to legally make it something else. I suspect that Pyrodex being harder to ignite as seems to be the commen perception here is due to a higher ignition temperature, which in this case means less Sulphur.
Triple 7 doesn't use sulphur at all which tells me that the perchlorate content is much higher than in Pyrodex, Sulphur and Potassium Perchlorate makes an interesting flash powder that is friction sensitive and unstable, imagine ramming your ramrod down on that...
Perchlorates give a higher burnrate than nitrates which would explain the 15% increase in power.
My conclusions would have to be that Pyrodex is a modified BP where a portion of the nitrate has been substituted for perchlorate and the ratios adjusted to give the same performance as regular BP.
Triple 7 is an old fashioned chlorate based propellant of the type used as high explosive from the civil war up to WW1 with Potassium Nitrate included to boost the smoke.
I'd say that anything else they put in would have very little to do with the burning proerties and more to do with manufacturing.
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