Ednatol is a yellow

high explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An exp ...

, comprising about 55%

ethylenedinitramine Ethylenedinitramine (EDNA, also Haleite or Explosive H) is an explosive chemical compound of the nitroamine class, a derivative of the ethylenediamine. EDNA is a powerful explosive, with a detonation velocity of 7,570 m/s, slightly higher th ...

(aka Haleite or Explosive H) and 45%

TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

by weight. It was developed in

the United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

circa 1935 and used as a substitute for Composition B in large general purpose and fragmentation bombs. It has a

detonation velocity Explosive velocity, also known as detonation velocity or velocity of detonation (VoD), is the velocity at which the shock wave front travels through a detonated explosive. Explosive velocities are always higher than the local speed of sound in t ...

of approximately 7,400 metres per second. It is a uniform blend with a

melting point The melting point (or, rarely, liquefaction point) of a substance is the temperature at which it changes state of matter, state from solid to liquid. At the melting point the solid and liquid phase (matter), phase exist in Thermodynamic equilib ...

of 80°C. Ednatol was also used as

pentolite Pentolite is a composite high explosive used for military and civilian purposes, e.g., warheads and explosive booster, booster charges. It is made of pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) phlegmatized with TNT, trinitrotoluene (TNT) by melt casting.B ...

is used: in rockets, grenades and high-explosive antitank shells. Ednatol was cast in the same manner as

amatol Amatol is a highly explosive material made from a mixture of TNT and ammonium nitrate. The British name originates from the words ammonium and toluene (the precursor of TNT). Similar mixtures (one part dinitronaphthalene and seven parts a ...

. The resulting explosive was stable, non-

hygroscopic Hygroscopy is the phenomenon of attracting and holding water molecules via either absorption (chemistry), absorption or adsorption from the surrounding Natural environment, environment, which is usually at normal or room temperature. If water mol ...

and could be stored for long periods. Ednatol has no civilian applications. It was developed by the U.S. Army at

Picatinny Arsenal The Picatinny Arsenal ( or ) is an American military research and manufacturing facility located on of land in Jefferson and Rockaway Townships in Morris County, New Jersey, United States, encompassing Picatinny Lake and Lake Denmark. The ...

exclusively intended for military use and was especially popular during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It is now an obsolete explosive and therefore unlikely to be encountered, except in legacy munitions and

unexploded ordnance Unexploded ordnance (UXO, sometimes abbreviated as UO) and unexploded bombs (UXBs) are explosive weapons (bombs, shell (projectile), shells, grenades, land mines, naval mines, cluster munition, and other Ammunition, munitions) that did not e ...

References

Explosives Trinitrotoluene {{explosive-stub