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antimateriel technology anybody?

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Author	Topic: antimateriel technology anybody?
Machiavelli Frequent Poster	posted April 24, 2000 05:06 PM Does anybody here have some info on the new antimateriel agents the army is developing parallel to the nonlethals? Superacids, metall embrittlement, combustion modifiers and all this stuff. Apart from a report about sabotaging jet-fuel with thionylchloride I haven't been able to find much on the net. Was anyone luckier?
überchlor Frequent Poster	posted April 26, 2000 12:44 AM As for using super acids to britillize (sp?) metal, i would imagine a shell containing the liquid acid on the outside, and caramel and nuts, and chocolate, no i mean a explosive charge on the inside..when the charge detonates it distributes and forces the acid onto the metal. But i think shaped charges are probably more benefiting than using super acids in such a needed way of penetrating armor or weakening metal, it would be interesting to know exactly, but, like i said, i think the shaped charge has taken use for this purpose. As for sabotaging jet-fuel, couldn't you just add some other substance that is miscible with the jet fuel that would cause it to stop running, or an inert solvent or compound that is unflammable, diluting the fuel, but still has odor (so it raises no suspision).
Machiavelli Frequent Poster	posted April 26, 2000 04:48 AM Shaped charges may be more appropriate for field-use but I'm thinking more in terms of sneaky sabotage buisness. Here the superacids offer the advantage of being silent. BTW what outside container would you use for your shell? Some of the papers I read claim that superacids attack organic matter (like plastic) just like metall or glass (even simple HF can do that). And storing these shells when they can leak or shatter would be like storing explosives together with blasting caps, kinda dangerous. But maybe one could devise a binary device. As for the jet fuel, yes, you could use a substance that would change the viscosity and stop it running or dilute it with inert substances but the problem is the effectivness of these substances. A small fuel storage unit has between 50.000 to 250.000 liters of fuel. Now if you would just need a 1% concentration of your substance you would have to carry 500-2500 l with you. With thionylchloride you need 20-100l.
überchlor Frequent Poster	posted April 26, 2000 07:05 PM Here's an interesting article i picked up from Macmillian Encyclopedia of Chemistry about Super acids: Chemists long considered mineral acids such as sulfuric acid and Nitric acid to be the strongest protic acids. More recently this view has changed considerably with the dicovery of extremely strong acid systems that are hundreds of millions, even billions, of times stronger than 100% concentrated Sulfuric acid. Such acid systems are termed super acids. Hammett's acidity constant measurements (-Hş, a logarithmic scale) HClO4 (-Hş, 13.8); Fluorosulfuric acid (-Hş, 15.1); anhydrous hydrofluoric acid (-Hş, 15.1); Teflic acid (TeF5OH) (-Hş, 15.1); trifluoromethane sulfonic acid (CF3SO3H); and higher homologous perfluoroalkanesulfonic acids (C#F2#+,SO3H) -Hş, 12-14. Well known lewis superacids are Aluminum trihalides (Of Cl, Br, I), Boron trifluoride, AsF5, SbF5, TaF5 and NbF3, Boron tristrifluoromethane sulfonate, B(OSO3CF)3, and gold, tantalum, platinum, niobium fluorosulfonates. Polysulfuric acids (oleums) sulfuric acid with a 50 mol% SO3, a value of -Hş, 14.5 is reached. "Magic acid": A Fluorosulfuric acid-Antimony pentachloride combination, with 90% SbF5 content in the system, the -Hş reaches 26.5. Notes: this isn't the whole article on super acids in the mentioned book, it's i guess, what i thought was the most interesting at the time. And the -Hş thing is actually a ş where the ş, is to the bottom, not the top, the ş is the closest that i could find on the character map to match this character. Super acids attack glass (usually) and metals , as does hydofluoric acid, but without moisture hydrofluoric acid barely even attacks metals or glass, HF regularily doesn't attack high density plastics like HDPE, it could be little different for the super acids. My thought of such a device was that, where the acid is in a resistant shell casing, and the explosive charge would be placed in the middle hole or slot, where when it detonates, the casing is broken by the explosion, exposing the acid to its surrounding atmosphere, "eating" the glass or attacking the metal or armor. Another thing is that the Super acids such as Fluorosulfuric acid (HSO3F) are HIGHLY toxic. I just had to correct that HClO was HClO4, and it was a typing error. As was SbF3, is SbF5. [This message has been edited by überchlor (edited April 29, 2000).]

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