Water gel explosive

Water gel explosives have a jelly-like consistency and come in sausage-like packing stapled shut on both sides.

[2] Water-gel explosives have almost completely displaced dynamite,[citation needed] becoming the most-used civil blasting agents.

They contain a gelatinizing agent, also known as a thickener, that modifies their consistency, ranging from easily pourable gels to hard solids.

[5] Water gel explosives are produced by combining nitroparaffins, usually nitromethane, with an aqueous salt solution and a gelling agent.

When the salt solution and nitroparaffin are gelled, the entire mixture is combined and mixed together until the desired consistency is achieved.

[6] Powdered metals have not proven to be completely effective in increasing the sensitivity of the explosive because they do not uniformly mix through the solution.

Liquid aliphatic mononitrates have been found to work very effectively as sensitizers when they are well mixed in the water gel.

One type, a small diameter slurry explosive, can be used specifically for blasting in coal undercut, midcut, and depillaring areas.

[10] Detagel, which is very high in strength, is a specific example of a small diameter water gel explosive that is used for mining activities.