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Mercury Fulminate

Mercury fulminate, or fulminate of mercury, is a fine-crystalline, free-flowing substance of white or gray color. It is toxic and poorly soluble in cold and hot water. Compared with other primary explosives used in practice, mercury fulminate is the most sensitive to impact, friction, and thermal effects. When mercury fulminate is moistened, its explosive properties and sensitivity to the initial impulse decrease (for example, at 10% moisture content mercury fulminate only burns without detonating, and at 30% moisture content it neither burns nor detonates). It is used for loading detonator caps and primer caps.

Mercury fulminate
Mercury fulminate
Mercury fulminate

Characteristics of mercury fulminate

First obtained
1799
Formula
Hg(ONC)2
Starting materials
mercury, nitric acid, and ethyl alcohol
Structure
fine-crystalline, free-flowing substance
Color
white or gray
Sensitivity
the most sensitive explosive
Interaction with metals
with aluminum – reacts; with copper – poorly; with nickel, lead – does not react
Solubility in water
poor
Flash point
170–180 ºC
Explosion temperature
4450 ºC
Detonation velocity
4500–4850 m/s
TNT equivalent
0.43
Specific features
toxic

In the absence of moisture, mercury fulminate does not chemically interact with copper and its alloys. With aluminum, however, it reacts intensively with the release of heat and the formation of non-explosive compounds (corrosive destruction of aluminum occurs). Therefore, cap cases containing mercury fulminate are made of copper or cupronickel, rather than aluminum.