Editing RDX (section)

===UK, US, and Canadian production and development===
At the beginning of the 1940s, the major US explosive manufacturers, [[duPont|E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company]] and [[Hercules Inc.|Hercules]], had several decades of experience of manufacturing [[trinitrotoluene]] (TNT) and had no wish to experiment with new explosives. US Army Ordnance held the same viewpoint and wanted to continue using TNT.<ref name=baxter-253-254>{{Harvtxt|Baxter III|1968|pp=253–254}}</ref> RDX had been tested by [[Picatinny Arsenal]] in 1929, and it was regarded as too expensive and too sensitive.<ref name=baxter-253-259/> The Navy proposed to continue using [[ammonium picrate]].<ref name=baxter-253-254/> In contrast, the [[National Defense Research Committee]] (NDRC), who had visited The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, thought new explosives were necessary.<ref name="baxter-253-254"/> [[James B. Conant]], chairman of Division B, wished to involve academic research into this area. Conant therefore set up an experimental explosives research laboratory at the [[United States Bureau of Mines|Bureau of Mines]], [[Bruceton, Pennsylvania]], using [[Office of Scientific Research and Development]] (OSRD) funding.<ref name=baxter-253-259/>

====Woolwich method====
In 1941, the UK's [[Tizard Mission]] visited the US Army and Navy departments and part of the information handed over included details of the "Woolwich" method of manufacture of RDX and its stabilisation by mixing it with [[beeswax]].<ref name=baxter-253-259/> The UK was asking that the US and Canada, combined, supply {{convert|220|ST|tonne}} <!-- {{convert|200000|kg|lb}} --> (440,000&nbsp;lb) of RDX per day.<ref name=baxter-253-259/> A decision was taken by [[William H. P. Blandy]], chief of the [[Bureau of Ordnance]], to adopt RDX for use in mines and [[torpedo]]es.<ref name=baxter-253-259/> Given the immediate need for RDX, the US Army Ordnance, at Blandy's request, built a plant that copied the equipment and process used at Woolwich. The result was the [[Newport Chemical Depot|Wabash River Ordnance Works]] run by E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company.<ref>{{Harvtxt|MacDonald and Mack Partnership|1984|p=19}}</ref> At that time, this works had the largest nitric acid plant in the world.<ref name=baxter-253-259/> The Woolwich process was expensive: it needed {{convert|11|lb}} of [[nitric acid#Grades|strong nitric acid]] for every pound of RDX produced.<ref name="MM-13">{{Harvtxt|MacDonald and Mack Partnership|1984|p=13}} These pages need to be checked. Page 13 may actually be page 18.</ref>

By early 1941, the NDRC was researching new processes.<ref name="MM-13"/> The Woolwich or direct nitration process has at least two serious disadvantages: (1) it used large amounts of nitric acid and (2) at least one-half of the formaldehyde is lost. One mole of hexamethylenetetramine could produce at most one mole of RDX.<ref name="Elder-6">{{Harvtxt|Elderfield|1960|p=6}}</ref> At least three laboratories with no previous explosive experience were instructed to develop better production methods for RDX; they were based at [[Cornell University|Cornell]], [[University of Michigan|Michigan]], and [[Pennsylvania State University|Pennsylvania State]] universities.<ref name=baxter-253-259/>{{efn|These were not the only laboratories to work on RDX, Gilman's 1953 account of the Ross–Schiessler method was based on unpublished work from laboratories at the Universities of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Cornell, Harvard, Vanderbilt, McGill (Canada), Bristol (UK), Sheffield (UK), Pennsylvania State College, and the UK's research department.}} [[Werner Emmanuel Bachmann]], from Michigan, successfully developed the "combination process" by combining the Ross and Schiessler process used in Canada (aka the German E-method) with direct nitration.<ref name=urbanski-KA/><ref name=baxter-253-259/> The combination process required large quantities of acetic anhydride instead of nitric acid in the old British "Woolwich process". Ideally, the combination process could produce two moles of RDX from each mole of hexamethylenetetramine.<ref name="Elder-6"/>

The expanded production of RDX could not continue to rely on the use of natural beeswax to desensitize the explosive as in the original British composition (RDX/BWK-91/9). A substitute stabilizer based on petroleum was developed at the [[Bruceton, Pennsylvania|Bruceton]] Explosives Research Laboratory in Pennsylvania, with the resulting explosive designated Composition A-3.<ref name=baxter-253-259/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rowland |first=Buford |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EqNZ5hjPOVMC&pg=PA208 |title=U.S. Navy Bureau of Ordnance in World War II |date=1953 |publisher=Bureau of Ordnance, Department of the Navy |language=en}}</ref>

====Bachmann process====
The  [[National Defense Research Committee|National Defence Research Committee]]  (NDRC) instructed three companies to develop pilot plants. They were the Western Cartridge Company, E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, and [[Eastman Chemical Company|Tennessee Eastman Company]], part of Eastman Kodak.<ref name=baxter-253-259/> At the [[Eastman Chemical Company]] (TEC), a leading manufacturer of acetic anhydride, [[Werner Emmanuel Bachmann]] developed a continuous-flow process for RDX utilizing an ammonium nitrate/nitric acid mixture as a nitrating agent in a medium of acetic acid and acetic anhydride. RDX was crucial to the war effort and the current batch-production process was too slow. In February 1942, TEC began producing small amounts of RDX at its Wexler Bend pilot plant, which led to the US government authorizing TEC to design and build [[Holston Ordnance Works]] (H.O.W.) in June 1942. By April 1943, RDX was being manufactured there.<ref name=Bachmann-Sheehan/> At the end of 1944, the Holston plant and the [[Newport Chemical Depot|Wabash River Ordnance Works]], which used the Woolwich process, were producing {{convert|25000|ST|tonne}} (50 million pounds) of [[Composition B]] per month.<ref>{{Harvtxt|MacDonald and Mack Partnership|1984|p=32}}</ref>

The Bachmann process yields both RDX and [[HMX]], with the major product determined by the specific reaction conditions.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Yinon |first1=Jehuda |title=Toxicity and Metabolism of Explosives |date=30 June 1990 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-4398-0529-9 |page=166 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BD3c7FN4x5YC |language=en}}</ref>