Agriculture Grade Ammonium Nitrate as the Basic Ingredient of Massive Explosive Charges

Prilled ammonium nitrate (AN) is manufactured globally in millions of tons and is mainly used as fertilizer or as the main ingredient of modern mining blasting explosives. The availability of AN poses a serious threat to public security as it enables preparation of massive explosive charges using a simple technology in order to carry out terrorist attacks. This paper examines the option of using agriculture AN manufactured in several Polish plants as the basic ingredient of explosive mixtures with liquid fuels or powdered aluminum. Fuel oil (FO), 2‐EHN and nitromethane were used as liquid fuels. Additionally, the effect of an inorganic additive (dolomite) in AN on the detonation velocity of mixtures of granulated and milled AN with various fuels was examined.     

Suitability of the milk of native breeds of cows from low‐input farms for cheese production,including rennet curd texture

The cheesemaking suitability of the milk of native cow breeds [Polish Red (RP) and White‐Backed (BG)] raised on low‐input farms was assessed. The milk of Polish Holstein‐Friesian cows raised in an intensive system constituted the reference group. Chemical composition, pH, rennet coagulation time, fat dispersion and curd texture were determined. The cows on the low‐input farms produced over 40% less milk, but with higher (P ≤ 0.01) fat content, shorter coagulation time by over 2 min and lower (P ≤ 0.05) fat dispersion. The curds from this milk were significantly springier, more cohesive and harder. The best milk indices were obtained for the RP cows.     

The Detonation Properties of Explosive-Water Mixtures

Mixtures of crystalline explosive and water have as a rule detonation properties different from the dry material. It has been shown that the character of those changes is closely related to the structure of the particles (crystals, granules) of the explosives. The critical diameters and detonation velocities have been measured for a range of explosive-water mixtures, and the results are interpreted in terms of the hotspot theory.