Tritonal is a mixture of 80% TNT and 20%

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in AmE, American and CanE, Canadian English) is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately o ...

powder, used in several types of ordnance such as air-dropped

bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechan ...

s. The aluminium improves the total heat output and hence impulse of the TNT — the length of time during which the blast wave is positive. Tritonal is approximately 18% more powerful than TNT alone. The 87 kg of tritonal in a

Mark 82 bomb The Mark 82 (Mk 82) is an unguided, low-drag general-purpose bomb, part of the United States Mark 80 series. The explosive filling is usually tritonal, though other compositions have sometimes been used. Development and deployment W ...

has the potential to produce approximately 863 MJ of energy when detonated. This implies an energy density of approximately 9MJ/kg, compared to ~4MJ/kg for TNT.

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See also