Nickel hydrazine nitrate


Nickel hydrazine nitrate , 3]2 is an energetic material having explosive
properties in between that of primary explosive and a secondary explosive. It is a salt of a coordination compound of nickel with a reaction equation of 3N2H4·H2O + Ni2 →〔Ni3〕2 ＋ 3H2O

Preparation

NHN can be synthesized by reacting nickel nitrate hexahydrate with a dilute aqueous solution of hydrazine monohydrate at 65 C. To help speed the drying of the product after filtration from the hot water, it can be rinsed with alcohol. The product is a fluffy powder. To increase its bulk density to, dextrin in the amount of of the weight of the nickel nitrate hexahydrate can be added.

Non-primary explosive detonator (NPED)

The sensitivity of NHN straddles the line between highly sensitive primaries and a sensitive secondary. Due to this fact, NHN can be considered a true Non-primary explosive detonator.
An added benefit of NHN is that it will make the DDT transition in a cardboard shell, thus eliminating any chance of shrapnel danger posed by using metal shells.

Safety

NHN straddles the line between primary and secondary. Because of this it is a relatively safe explosive to work with having 80x less sensitivity to friction than Lead Azide as shown in table 2.
Friction sensitivities of some traditional explosives – 5,0 N;
tetrazene – 8.0 N; PETN – 60 N; hexogen – 120 N; octogen – 120 N, show that NHN is not very sensitive, and is thereby not exceedingly hazardous in handling.

Table 1. General and structural properties of Nickel hydrazine nitrateet al 2006"/>

a Values in brackets are theoretical

Table 2. Comparative properties of Nickel hydrazine nitrate and lead azideal 2006"/>

a Experimental value, b literature value, and c theoretical value