ABSTRACT: Smokeless propellants have been studied and manufactured for many decades. They can exist in various physical forms and also can have different properties according to the use of each propellant. One important form of smokeless powders is the ball powder, which has spherical grains. The manufacture process of the ball powder has many advantages over the usual way to manufacture a smokeless powder. For example, unstable and even deteriorated nitrocellulose, after being stabilized again, can be used to produce spherical powders. Also, the process to produce them requires less water and energy, which can result in a cheaper way to manufacture powders. In this review, the spherical powders manufacturing process is described, as well as the characteristics and advantages of this specific form of a double-base powder.

ABSTRACT: Explosives are widely used in extraction of ores, melts and fuels and in the safe and economical demolition of structures. These applications demonstrate the value of explosives to society and the reason why they are manufactured worldwide despite the hazard of their preparation. Hence, this paper focuses on the manufactory of the military explosive Hexogen (also known as RDX). The characteristics of the process are described by the analysis of a specify manufactory plant. The chosen analysis tool is the Hazard and Operability Study - HazOp. Historically, this methodology has been applied at chemical industries and is used in industrial process operability analysis. This study analyses seven critical nodes in the RDX manufacturing process, identifies several deviations, and causes and consequences. From these results, improvements in the units are suggested and actual conditions discussed. It is important to remark that this work is an initial approach to analysis of the manufacturing process of RDX using the HazOp methodology.