Editing Plastic explosive (section)

==Usage==
[[Image:C4 plastic explosive.jpg|thumb|right|upright|A C-4 charge packed onto a marine anchor chain]]

Plastic explosives are especially suited for explosive demolition of obstacles and [[fortification]]s by [[combat engineer]]s as they can be easily formed into ideal shapes for cutting structural members and have a high enough [[velocity of detonation]] and density for metal cutting work.

An early use of plastic explosives was in the warhead of the [[Mortar (weapon)#Spigot mortar|Petard demolition mortar]] of the British [[Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers]] (AVRE) which was used to destroy concrete fortifications encountered during [[Operation Overlord]] (D-Day). The original use of [[Nobel 808]] supplied by the SOE was for sabotage of German installations and railways in [[German-occupied Europe|Occupied Europe]].{{citation needed|date=November 2013}}

They are generally not used for ordinary [[Rock blasting|blasting]] as they tend to be significantly more expensive than other materials that perform just as well. A common commercial use of plastic explosives is for [[shock hardening]] high [[manganese]] percentage steel, a material typically used for train rail components and earth digging implements.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070525120609/http://www.pacaero.com/products/explosive-hardening.htm ''Explosive Hardening''], PA&E, Inc.</ref>

[[Reactive armor]] in tanks uses plastic explosives sandwiched between two plates of steel. Incoming high explosive shaped charge anti-tank rounds pierce the outer steel plate, then detonate the plastic explosive. This disrupts the energy from the incoming round and shields the tank.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Soldiers Handbook, Volume 1: Explosives Operations |last1=Ledgard |first1=Jared |date=2007 |chapter=Introduction to Explosives}}</ref>{{rp|9}}