Nonel

Nonel shock tubes (pink, red, orange, yellow) with Orica surface delay connector (blue) in use.

Nonel is a shock tube detonator designed to initiate explosions, generally for the purpose of demolition of buildings and for use in the blasting of rock in mines and quarries. Nonel is a contraction of "non electric".[1] Instead of electric wires, a hollow plastic tube delivers the firing impulse to the detonator, making it immune to most of the hazards associated with stray electric current.

It consists of a small diameter, three-layer plastic tube coated on the innermost wall with a reactive explosive compound, which, when ignited, propagates a low energy signal, similar to a dust explosion. The reaction travels at approximately 2,000 m/s (6,500 ft/s) along the length of the tubing with minimal disturbance outside of the tube.

Nonel was invented by the Swedish company Nitro Nobel in the 1960s and 1970s,[2] under the leadership of Per-Anders Persson,[3] and launched to the demolitions market in 1973.[4] (Nitro Nobel became a part of Dyno Nobel after being sold to Norwegian Dyno Industrier AS in 1986.)

References

1. Non-Electric (firing system for explosives) The Free Dictionary. Retrieved 13 February 2023
2. "Home". dynonobel.com.
3. Anderson, Susan Heller (5 March 1990). "Chronicle". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
4. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 August 2006. Retrieved 28 December 2006.

• Kathryn, Podoliak (21 April 2004). "The Evolution of the Detonator" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 August 2006. Retrieved 28 December 2006.

Further reading

• Explosive videos
• An experimental study of temperature structure of shock relaxation in air-dusty explosive media