Smokeless Powder
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Smokeless powder is the propellant in almost every modern cartridge and artillery charge, and in many rocket motors. Unlike the black powder it replaced, it burns almost entirely into gas.
What is smokeless powder?
Smokeless powder is a family of propellants built on nitrocellulose. Black powder leaves more than half of its weight behind as smoke and solid residue; smokeless powder turns almost all of it into gas. The result is more energy for the same weight, a cleaner barrel and no cloud of smoke to give away a firing position.
Despite the name, it is not a fine powder. It is formed into grains, flakes, tubes or cords, and the size and shape of the grain set how fast it burns and how pressure builds in the barrel.
Single, double and triple base
| Type | Energetic base | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Single base | Nitrocellulose | Rifle cartridges, artillery |
| Double base | Nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin | Pistol and shotgun cartridges, mortars, rocket motors |
| Triple base | Nitrocellulose, nitroglycerin and nitroguanidine | Large-calibre guns: tank, naval and field artillery |
Nitroglycerin raises the energy of the propellant. Nitroguanidine lowers the flame temperature, which cuts muzzle flash and slows the wear of the gun barrel.
What else goes into a propellant
Besides its energetic base, a propellant carries small amounts of additives. Stabilisers slow the chemical ageing of nitrocellulose, so stored ammunition stays safe and consistent. Plasticisers and surface deterrents such as dibutyl phthalate control how the grain starts to burn, and flash reducers suppress muzzle flash.
A short history
- 1846: Christian Friedrich Schönbein makes nitrocellulose, then called guncotton.
- 1884: Paul Vieille produces Poudre B in France, the first practical smokeless powder.
- 1887: Alfred Nobel patents ballistite, a double-base powder of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin.
- 1889: Britain adopts cordite, another double-base propellant.
- 1940s: triple-base propellants with nitroguanidine come into wide use to reduce muzzle flash in large guns.
Propellant raw materials from BÖRÜ Defense
BÖRÜ Defense manufactures and supplies the propellant raw materials below. Each one links to its technical page.
- Nitrocellulose: the base of every smokeless powder.
- Nitroglycerin: the energetic plasticiser of double- and triple-base propellants.
- Nitroguanidine: the cool-burning ingredient of triple-base propellants.
- Guanidinium Nitrate: a guanidine salt used in gas generators and propellant chemistry.
- Dibutyl Phthalate: a plasticiser and surface deterrent.
- Potassium Nitrate: the oxidiser of the black-powder igniters that light a smokeless charge.
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