No, I do not need answer soon.
Propellant uses fuel, oxidizer and a chemical reaction between them which turns them into gas, thereby increasing pressure behind the projectile and propelling it forward, correct?
I know that ammonium nitrate can be combined with a fuel to make explosives like ANFO or ANNM. This explosive is supposed to have low pressure* which tends to heave objects rather than shatter them which seems useful for gun propellant.
So, while it may not be the optimal propellant for guns, would it be possible to mix ammonium nitrate with nitromethane/naphta/kerosene/diesel/heating oil/bunker fuel and obtain a somewhat decent gun propellant?
If the resulting mixture would be too likely to blow up the gun, could that be made-up for by using less such propellant or a large chamber?
It would certainly be unsafe but would it be anymore unsafe than medieval/Renaissance grenades, cannons, arquebuses and hand cannons?
*Low pressure for an explosive. That’s still a low of pressure.
You’re going to want to look at things like Hydroxylammonium nitrate (HAN), triethanolammonium nitrate, and similar compounds. The US Army was investigating aqueous solutions of those types of compounds for use as liquid artillery propellant. U.S. Patent # 5,223,057 goes into more detail. This document goes into some of the health concerns from exposure to propellant reaction product vapors. One of the components mentioned, albeit a rare one, and more in the context of rocket solid propellant, is AN.
The short answer is, yes, you can make gun propellant with AN.
Edit: The Preparatory Manual of Black Powder and Pyrotechnics, by Jared Ledgard, goes into detail for AN based gun propellants, with recipes and synthesis procedures, around page 124. It is searchable via Google Books.
Thanks. You’re right to use the word “recipes”. That thing mentioned wheat flour, olive oil, corn starch and a pasta maker.
I do wonder how much particular ingredients can be skipped. One recipe says 70% AN, 15% aluminum and 15% aluminum stearate. I wonder if the latter can be skipped if one goes with AN and aluminum shavings.