Ballistite

Ballistite is a smokeless propellant made from two high explosives, nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. It was developed and patented by Alfred Nobel in the late 19th century.

Development

Alfred Nobel patented[citation needed] Ballistite in 1887 while he was living in Paris. His formulation was composed of 10% camphor and equal parts nitroglycerine and collodion.[1] The camphor reacted with any acidic products of the chemical breakdown of the two explosives. This both stabilized the explosive against further decomposition and prevented spontaneous explosions. However, camphor tends to evaporate over time, leaving a potentially unstable mixture.

Nobel's patent specified that the nitrocellulose should be "of the well-known soluble kind".

Military Adoption

Nobel offered to sell the rights of his new explosive to the French government. They declined, mainly because they had recently adopted Poudre B for military use. He subsequently licensed Ballistite to the Italian government. They entered into a contract with Nobel on 1 August 1889 to obtain 300,000 kilograms of Ballistite. As a result, Nobel opened a factory at Avigliana, Turin.

The Italian Army swiftly replaced their Vetterli M1870 and Vetterli M1870/87 rifles, which used black powder cartridges, to a new model, the Vetterli M1890, which used a cartridge loaded with ballistite.

As Italy was a competing great power to France, this was not received well by the French press and the public. The newspapers accused Nobel of industrial espionage, by spying on Paul Vieille (the inventor of Poudre B), and "high treason against France". After a police investigation, Nobel was refused permission to conduct any more research, or to manufacture explosives in France. As a result, he moved to San Remo, Italy in 1891 where he spent the last five years of his life.

Modern Use

Ballistite is still manufactured as a solid fuel rocket propellant, although the less volatile but chemically similar diphenylamine is used instead of camphor.