ABSTRACT
Inorganic nitrates-sodium nitrate, potassium nitrate, and ammonium nitrate-play major roles in the fertilizer, explosives, and propellant industries. Ammonium nitrate has been the material of prime interest for commercial exploitation because of its favored chemical nature and cost-effectiveness. The commercially available forms of these polycrystalline nitrates are gen-erally granular or spherical (popularly known as prill) consisting of aggregated irregular crystalline forms that provide free variable space between the crystals. Depending upon the compactness of the crystallites or available free variable space between the crystallites, the density of the prill differs. The higher the free space, the lower the prill density. For their applications in fertilizers, the prill density is probably of lesser significance. However, in explosives and propellants the size of the crystallites,
prill density, and resistance to thermally induced crystal growth due to interparticle bridging are major considerations for their suitability [1,2].
