Flameless Explosion

based on the conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy in liquids (Cardox cartridges), solids (Hydrox, Nitrox, and chemical cartridges), and gaseous substances compressed under high pressure (Airdox cartridges), capable of swift evaporation, expansion, or chemical reaction. A flameless explosion is accompanied by the production of a large volume of inert (flame-extinguishing) gases, which produce destruction without forming a flame. They are used in mine shafts that have dangerously high levels of gas and dust, in mine shafts supplying high quality commercial coal, and also for isolated explosions (blasting parts of buildings, constructing piling foundations under high-voltage lines, and cleansing blast furnaces of baked-on slag [plugs]). Flameless explosions are safe in methane-air and dust-air atmospheres, they improve the sanitary-hygienic working conditions for miners, and they permit the mining of large-size pieces of coal at the expense of decreased output by coal dust and fines. Flameless explosions are used in the USSR, USA, England, France, Poland, the Federal Republic of Germany, Yugoslavia, and other countries. Cardox cartridges were created in England (1920), the USA (1926), and the USSR (1932); Airdox cartridges, in the USA (1934), England (1952), and the USSR (1958); and Hydrox cartridges, in the USSR (1931) and England (1946).

Flameless explosions are being perfected with the goals of creating mechanized plants for loading and exploding cartridges during the driving work, creating a method of multiple usage of an automated cartridge during automated coal mining, and creating a method of hydraulic-pneumatic breaking (using the hydraulic effect).