Mercury Fulminate Manufacturer & Supplier

BÖRÜ Defense manufactures and supplies Mercury fulminate to defence industry customers worldwide, from Karatay/Konya, TÜRKİYE. Material is shipped with a certificate of analysis and safety data sheet; export documentation is prepared per destination.

What is Mercury Fulminate?

Mercury fulminate; It is a word used in the field of chemistry.

Term meaning in chemistry:

Its formula is Hg(CNO)2, a crystalline powdery substance that is explosive at its melting point, soluble in alcohol, ammonia and hot water, used as an explosive in explosive caps.

Mercury Fulminate Meaning and Definition

Fulminate: The general name of the CNO- anion and its salts. Fulminate salts are explosive

Mercury: A silver-colored element (symbol Hg) with atomic number 80, atomic weight 200.5, density 13.59, found as a liquid at normal temperature since its freezing point is -38.8 °C.

Melting Point: The temperature at which a solid liquefies. The temperature at which, at a given pressure, the solid and liquid phases of matter are in dynamic equilibrium and are identical to the freezing point. The temperature at which a pure solid is in equilibrium with its liquid state under constant external pressure. In the normal melting point definition, the external pressure is considered to be 1 atm. The melting points and freezing points of pure substances are the same temperature. The constant temperature at which the solid and liquid of a metal are in equilibrium at a pressure of one atmosphere. The temperature at which a solid becomes a liquid. It is the temperature at which a solid material turns into a liquid state and is a term used to determine the hardness of oils.

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Mercury Fulminate Manufacturer

Why choose us for mercury fulminate?

• Defence-Grade Laboratory
• Experience
• High Quality
• Right on Time

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History of Mercury Fulminate

Explosive mercury preparations were already mentioned by alchemists in the seventeenth century, and the writings of Johann Kunckel are the ones most often cited. The compound entered the scientific record in 1800, when the English chemist Edward Charles Howard described it to the Royal Society. He received the Copley Medal for this work. Within a few decades mercury fulminate became the key ingredient of the percussion cap, which replaced the flintlock and made firearms far less dependent on the weather.

In the 1860s Alfred Nobel used mercury fulminate in his blasting cap. This device made it practical to use nitroglycerine and dynamite in mining and construction. Fulminates also mattered to pure chemistry: the work of Liebig and Wöhler on fulminates and cyanates in the 1820s helped to establish the idea of isomerism. From the early twentieth century lead azide and lead styphnate gradually took its place. Its crystal structure was determined only in 2007.

What are the Uses of Mercury Fulminate?

For about a century mercury fulminate was the standard initiating explosive. In defence it was used in percussion caps, in the primers of small arms and artillery cartridges, and in the detonators of fuzes. In civil life it filled the blasting caps used in mining, quarrying, tunnelling and railway construction.

Today its use is limited. Most ammunition and detonator producers changed to mercury-free compounds many decades ago. Mercury fulminate is now met mainly in legacy specifications, in the study and conservation of historical ammunition, and as a reference substance in research on energetic materials. The sensitivity of new primary explosives is often compared with it. Forensic and analytical laboratories may also come across it when they examine old ammunition or primer residues.

Advantages of Mercury Fulminate

• It gave firearms a reliable ignition that worked in rain and wind, something the flintlock could not offer.
• A single compound could serve both in cartridge primers and in detonators, which simplified supply for early ammunition and explosives makers.
• More than two centuries of published data make its behaviour one of the best documented among primary explosives.
• It is the traditional benchmark for initiating compounds, and technical literature still expresses the sensitivity and performance of newer substances in relation to it.
• Its long service history gives it lasting value for teaching, for research and for the conservation of historical arms and ammunition.

These advantages are largely historical. In current production they are outweighed by the drawbacks listed below.

Disadvantages of Mercury Fulminate

• It contains mercury, which is toxic to the nervous system and the kidneys. Production workers and shooters were exposed to it through dust and firing residues.
• Mercury persists in the environment and accumulates in food chains, so residues and waste need controlled disposal.
• It is very sensitive to impact, friction, heat and sparks, which makes every handling step hazardous and demands specialised facilities.
• It deteriorates during long storage at high temperatures, and this made ammunition unreliable in hot climates.
• Mercury released on firing weakens brass cartridge cases, so fired cases cannot be reloaded safely.
• Mercury compounds face tightening controls, including the Minamata Convention on Mercury, in addition to explosives legislation. The industry has largely moved to other compounds.

Mercury fulminate specifications

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Page last reviewed:2026-09-17