Nitrocellulose

Nitrocellulose is cellulose in which some hydroxyl groups are replaced by nitrate ester groups. Its flammability and film-forming properties make it useful in propellants, coatings, inks, and photographic materials.

Cellulose: Cellulose is a structural polysaccharide made of linked glucose units and the main component of plant cell walls. Its glucose chains provide the framework whose hydroxyl groups are nitrated.
Smokeless powder: Smokeless powder is a propellant whose principal energetic ingredient is nitrocellulose, sometimes combined with nitroglycerin. Nitrocellulose supplies the gas-producing energy in many smokeless propellants.
Christian Friedrich Schönbein: Christian Friedrich Schönbein was a German-Swiss chemist who discovered guncotton in 1846. His accidental discovery of nitrated cotton began nitrocellulose’s history as an explosive.
Cellulose acetate: Cellulose acetate is a cellulose derivative in which hydroxyl groups are converted to acetate esters. It replaced flammable nitrocellulose in photographic film and other applications.
Flammability: Flammability is the ability of a material to ignite and sustain combustion. Nitrocellulose’s rapid ignition makes storage and handling a central concern.
Nitration: Nitration is a chemical reaction that introduces nitro or nitrate ester groups into a molecule. It converts cellulose hydroxyl groups into the nitrate esters characteristic of nitrocellulose.
Celluloid: Celluloid is an early thermoplastic made chiefly from nitrocellulose and camphor. It turned nitrocellulose into a moldable material for objects and early film.
Guncotton: Guncotton is highly nitrated cellulose developed as a powerful smokeless explosive. It is the high-nitration form that first made nitrocellulose famous.
Polyester film: Polyester film is a strong, flexible sheet commonly made from polyethylene terephthalate. It offers a safer, more dimensionally stable base than early nitrocellulose film.
Self-oxidizing material: A self-oxidizing material contains oxidizing groups that can support combustion without relying entirely on external oxygen. Nitrate groups help nitrocellulose burn rapidly, even when oxygen access is limited.

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