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In the contest between watergels and emulsions for the perfect bulk explosive, Brent Buffham, technical manager with Maxam, explains why the companys Rioflex variable-density product is arguably the best compromise
he history of commercial explosives is relatively short. Only 140 years ago the world was restricted to black powder and nitro-glycerine-based explosives. In todays world of resource extraction, there is an explosive for the majority of situations and applications, but what does this mean for the user? It means choice, and with choice comes compromise between explosive performance and cost. Is there a perfect explosive for your needs? The explosive supply and manufacturing industry is the same as any other commercial entity that provides something for sale. The saleability of a product is based on raw material costs, availability, the technology available, manufacturing and transport costs versus the possible returns from the sale of the product. Consider if the price of corn was raised to the same value as that of gold; consumers would see corn flakes disappear from the supermarket shelves overnight. The
HDAN at 20x magnification
Sensitized Rioflex
Unsensitized Rioflex
cost of manufacturing corn flakes would negate the returns achievable. The same is true for explosives, as is the adage of getting what you pay for. Everyone wants a bargain, but at what cost? With explosives, that cost is available useable energy. Many companies in the explosives industry tailor their products to suit their resources
HDAN at 360x magnification, showing the smooth edge of the prill
and their market. Traditionally, Maxam supply quarries and smaller mines and Rioflex produces exceptional results for these consumers. Thanks to this robust and reliable product, Maxam have seen their quarry market share grow. Rioflex, Maxams bulk variable-density product, is placed in the category of an ammonium nitrate suspension gel. This essentially means that Rioflex is a watergel in the traditional sense. However, the watergels of yesteryear are not the same as the Rioflex matrixes of today. Emulsions, when they first arrived on the market were hailed as the future of explosives, and statements and papers were produced to support the technology change. The use of electron microscopes to show the intimacy between oxidizer and fuel produced undeniably great imagery. The measurements of oxidizers in a 100% emulsion phase were compared to the size of oxidizers in slurries (watergels) from the 1990s. Various companies used this as evidence that the product would have a higher velocity of detonation (VoD) and, therefore, be a better and more advanced technology. However, the situation in the early days of emulsion development is probably not as relevant to how emulsions are made in todays market. Cost, as mentioned before, is the driving force in how products are made and marketed. Emulsions are traditionally aimed at large-diameter blasthole markets in large-scale mines where single blasts can consume in excess of 500 tonnes of bulk explosives. Although clients now want the
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This is where the water plays its part in protecting and stabilizing the product. The carbon chains used in gelling are long and all ravelled up into a little ball. They require a medium to be suspended in so that they can unravel, through hydration. In order to do this, Maxam use a small amount of water to suspend the fuel and oxidizer, and that is it. Of all the explosive phases or matrixes on the Australian explosives market, Rioflex has the least water content. Other manufacturers in the market may add up to 23% water to the emulsion phases of their bulk products. It is important to understand that emulsions of any type, explosives or not, use
a chemical (emulsifier) to blend two or more immiscible (unblendable) liquids together. As emulsions (in terms of explosives) are waxes, oils and oxidizers in water, they have to be over-fuelled, in general terms, to reduce noxious fumes of nitrous oxide when doped with ammonium nitrate. Rioflex is perfectly formulated to ensure a near-neutral oxygen-fuel balance that, together with the intimate encapsulation of highly angular ammonium nitrate, produces the optimal base matrix. The gain that the industry achieves with emulsion phase explosives creates a false economy, robbing Peter (energy) to pay Paul (procurement). Many explosives users understand that what you spend on drilling and blasting results in improved production in the quarry as well as through the crushers or mills, in orders of magnitudes. So, to answer the question that was posed earlier: Is there a perfect explosive for your needs? The answer is yes. QM This article first appeared in the August 2012 edition of Quarry, the official journal of the *Ideal Theoretical VODs that are affected by geological conditions, water, Institute of Quarrying hole diameter and others. Australia, and is **The above densities are not inhole critical densities, above values reproduced here by equate to the limiting density of the base matrix/emulsion formulations. kind permission.
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