cyclotetramethyene tetranitramine, a powerful explosive, was discovered as a by-product of RDX manufacture. In the nitric acid alone process it is formed in only small amounts. So ammonium nitrate and acetic anhydride are used with nitric acid in manufacturing a RDX/HMX mixture. It is most often used mixed with TNT which is called octol in shaped charges because of it high detonation rate and in applications where fragementation is desired because it produces more fragments at a higher velocity then does composition b. Like composition b it can be melt loaded.

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HMX, molecular formula C4H8N8O8. Ideal detonation velocity 9110 ms-1 at a density of 1903 Kgm-3

HMX has similar properties to RDX, and the two are often mixed. HMX stands for His/Her Majesty's EXplosive, and was developed by the British in World War II.

The high detonation velocity of HMX makes it useful for such devices as linear cutting charges and other shaped charges.

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