P a g e 1 | 10
NEW NTO WORKSHOP AND ASSOCIATED PRODUCT
CHARACTERIZATIONS
A. Delage, P. Chabin, G. Alvarez, V. Chauffour & G. Eck
EURENCO, 1928 route d'Avignon, CS 90109 Sorgues- 84275 VEDENE, France
a.delage@eurenco.com – Phone: +33629671952
ABSTRACT
NTO was produced for more than 25 years at the EURENCO Sorgues plant. However in 2016,
the existing workshop was redesigned and rebuilt, to allow a continuous way of production,
increase control on the process safety and improve the final product quality.
This paper will firstly describe the different steps of the NTO manufacturing showing some
specific process improvements put in place in the workshop. Then will be presented the results
of the characterizations of the different grades of NTO (Class II, III and IV) and the specific
quality NTO CF which has a granular size distribution and a high bulk density designed for IM
melt cast applications.
All the results obtained during this study allow our product to be qualified by the French MoD.
The new NTO has then been also tested and checked in two IM compositions, one cast PBX
B2214B and one for a pressed application P16945. The results obtained confirm that the main
characteristics in performance, safety and vulnerability of this two IM products are kept with
using the new NTO.
1- INTRODUCTION
3-Nitro-1,2,4-triazol-5-one (NTO) is mainly used by EURENCO’s customers in Melt-Cast
compositions for Insensitive Munitions (NTO CF), very Insensitive Cast-PBX formulations
(B2214B, B2268A) as well as moulding powders for Pressed-PBX formulations (P16945).
Their applications include Mortar and Artillery ammunition as well as munitions used from naval
platforms such as aircraft carriers (bombs & penetrators).
NTO explosives production traces its roots back to the 1980s when EURENCO (at the time
SNPE) patented NTO as an explosive for military use. After more than 25 years of production,
it has been decided to redesign and rebuild the existing workshop to allow a continuous way
of production, increase control on the process safety, reduce the environmental impacts of this
type of production (waste acid, air) and improve the final product quality.
Different grades of NTO are produced in this new workshop, Class II, III and IV for cast-PBX
formulations and also a specific quality NTO CF which has a granular size distribution and a
high bulk density designed for IM melt-cast applications.
The challenge was to improve the process (robustness & reproducible) and to keep exactly
the same qualities of NTO as those produced in the old workshop (already qualified for our
customer’s applications) without changing the technical specifications.
2- WHERE WE WERE…
Some pictures of the old workshop are gathered in the figure 1. This workshop was built in
1972, and before the NTO production which started in 1987, it was dedicated for PETN
manufacturing. No specific instrumentation was automated and the control station and
command control wasn’t deported. Moreover, it was impossible to reach the required level
regarding safety and environmental regulation.
