Chapter 782: Project in Progress

The following days were spent conducting experiments. Double-base propellant is a magical thing. Compared with traditional black powder, it does not require charcoal or sulfur, and saltpeter must be converted into nitric acid before it can be used. Its main material is cotton!

This is amazing.

The first step in double-base propellant is to make guncotton, which requires a large amount of degreased cotton. This aspect is also clearly written in Luo Chong's materials. Researchers also understand that according to the principle that oil will produce saponification reaction when it comes into contact with soda ash, it is enough to use soda ash to degrease cotton directly.

The two people in the guncotton team first heated and soaked the cotton in alkaline water, then rinsed it repeatedly with clean water, and finally dried it to obtain pure degreased cotton.

Then mix dilute sulfuric acid and concentrated nitric acid, put it in a water bath and stir slowly while cooling it, and finally put the degreased cotton in to soak. This step was carried out carefully, and even Qubing, who was watching, did not dare to make any noise to disturb them. The

next step is to take out the cotton soaked in acid and wash it repeatedly, and finally dry it or air it.

The guncotton team tried several different ratios of sulfuric acid and nitric acid, as well as different soaking times for cotton, and finally came up with six different guncottons, which took several days in total.

Such a life is undoubtedly very boring in the eyes of ordinary people, but for these people in the institute, there is nothing more interesting than doing experiments every day with the monthly salary and funds given by the leader.

The other team that was purifying ether next to them was fully armed. Not only was there a separate ventilation laboratory, but there was also a gas mask developed by the institute itself, and even the eyes on it were covered by a glass cover, which was really airtight.

However, after several days of tossing and turning, during the process of distilling ether with sulfuric acid and alcohol (ethanol), an experimental accident still occurred. The newcomer in the ether purification team accidentally smelled this thing while encapsulating it, and then fainted on the spot.

Fortunately, this thing can only play an anesthetic role, and he woke up after two hours.

During the final synthesis experiment, Qubing also watched with a gas mask, and then he saw an incredible scene. When the experimenter put the guncotton in the ether liquid and stirred it, the fluffy guncotton quickly became wet and collapsed, and then began to solidify slowly. The operator

poured the mixture into a brass mold, and after squeezing, filtering and shaping, he finally got a rectangular colloid similar to yellow transparent soap with slight elasticity.

After getting the final product, Qubing couldn't help but think about life. Could this thing be the powerful smokeless gunpowder that the leader wanted? Was the leader right?

"If you want to know whether it is what the leader wants, why not take it for an experiment? Our institute's judgment method is to speak with experimental results. Without experimental proof, it's useless for you to say anything." Wen Nong looked at Qubing with a face full of disbelief and explained.

"Okay, then find a place to conduct the experiment." Qubing nodded, and the two began to gather four people from the guncotton group and the ether group to start analyzing and experimenting with double-base propellants.

The first is the safety test. This thing will not burn or explode whether it is hit with a hammer, rubbed, or exposed to the sun. It can be said that it is very safe during normal use and transportation.

Then they cut it into thin strips and granules with a knife according to the drawings given by Luo Chong. The thin strips of double-base propellant are used to load rifle bullets. It looks like a handful of light yellow egg noodles, or egg dragon beard noodles. If the dragon beard noodles are further chopped, it will become a large particle of colloid gunpowder similar to sesame.

They put the two forms of gunpowder in a copper plate and ignited them with an open flame, and then a sound of rapid burning was heard. Under the gaze of several people, the ignited colloid gunpowder instantly lit up a bright flame, and then a smell of gunpowder was emitted in the air, but there was no white smoke like a cloud of fog when black gunpowder was ignited, only a few wisps of light blue-black smoke.

There were only some traces of burning on the copper plate carrying the gunpowder, but not much residue was left.

At this point in the experiment, the safety and smokeless effect of the propellant were very successful. It was just unknown whether this thing could be ignited by the highly sensitive spontaneous ignition gunpowder of another group. At that time, the ammunition loading experiment would have to be carried out to get the final result.

However, the experiments of the other three groups were in trouble. Mercury nitrate, also known as fulminate of mercury, requires extremely high concentration of fuming nitric acid. This thing is still quite laborious in industrial manufacturing, but it is not difficult to make in a laboratory environment. At most, it can be done by retorting a few times.

The difficulty lies in the information provided by Luo Chong, which said that alcohol should be used as a reaction catalyst, but Luo Chong did not say how much alcohol to add and what concentration of alcohol. This made the two experimenters have to repeat the experiment at the risk of being killed by the explosion. The propellant over there was made, but the primer (anti-river crab) fire here was still a long way off.

The silver nitrate of the other group, also known as fulminate of silver, was easy to make and easy to make, but its properties were too unstable and too sensitive to light. It could not be preserved by normal means, so it lost its practical value.

The main problem with the last group of lead azide is that the preparation method is too complicated. Since the Han tribe does not have the ability to prepare synthetic ammonia at present, they can only use a stupid method to deal with nitrogen-rich compounds. Luo Chong's method is to first use sulfuric acid and sodium chloride to dryly distill hydrochloric acid, then mix hydrochloric acid and nitric acid, and then add lead monoxide, use a catalyst to accelerate the reaction, and finally produce a small amount of lead azide.

The experimental yield is very low and the preparation method is cumbersome, but there is no way. Without synthetic ammonia technology, it is impossible to obtain a large amount of pure nitrogen. The preparation environment of high pressure and low temperature, the Han tribe has a steam engine, which is easy to deal with high

pressure, but without refrigeration equipment, the low temperature cannot be controlled. Fortunately, the amount of this thing is not large. A bullet can only hold a small amount as big as two sesame seeds. A small bottle made in the laboratory can hold tens of thousands of bullets.

Just when the lead azide was finally prepared, the first group of mercuric nitrate was also produced. It was a vermilion paste that looked like a box of ink.

Wen Nong couldn't help but joked, "Don't confuse this with ink. If someone presses the seal on it, the whole arm might be blown off."

(End of this chapter)