List of explosives used during World War II

Almost all the common explosives listed here were mixtures of several common components:

Ammonium picrate
TNT (Trinitrotoluene)
PETN (Pentaerythritol tetranitrate)
RDX
Powdered aluminium.

This is only a partial list; there were many others. Many of these compositions are now obsolete and only encountered in legacy munitions and unexploded ordnance.

{| class="wikitable"

! Name !! Composition !! Notes

| Amatol||Ammonium nitrate and TNT || Extensively used in bombs, shells, depth charges and naval mines

| Baronal||Barium nitrate, TNT and powdered aluminium ||

| Baratol||Barium nitrate and TNT ||Used in British hand grenades. Also used as the low velocity explosive lens in the implosion type nuclear weapon, Fat Man

| Composition A||88.3% RDX and 11.7% plasticizer ||

| Composition B||RDX, TNT and wax || Used as the high velocity explosive lens in the implosion type nuclear weapon, Fat Man

| Composition H6||45% RDX, 30% TNT, 20% powdered aluminium and 5% wax ||Replaced Torpex for use in naval applications.

|DBX (Depth Bomb Explosive)||21% RDX, 21% ammonium nitrate, 40% TNT, 18% powdered aluminium ||An alternative for Torpex, that used less of the strategic material RDX

| Minol||40% TNT, 40% ammonium nitrate and 20% powdered aluminium (Minol-2) ||Developed by the British Royal Navy and used in torpedoes, depth charges and naval mines. Unsuitable for shells because of a risk of detonation if subjected to very high accelerations.

| Octol||75% HMX (cyclotetramethylene-tetranitramine) and 25% TNT ||Still in use

| Pentolites||50% PETN and 50% TNT ||

| Picratol||52% ammonium picrate and 48% TNT ||Used in armour-piercing shells and bombs as insensitive to shock

| PIPE||81% PETN and 19% oil ||

| PTX-1||30% RDX, 50% tetryl and 20% TNT ||

| PTX-2||41-44% RDX, 26-28% PETN and 28-33% TNT ||

| PVA-4||90% RDX, 8% PVA and 2% dibutyl phthalate ||

| RIPE||85% RDX and 15% oil ||

| Tetrytols||70% Tetryl and 30% TNT ||

| Torpex||42% RDX, 40% TNT and 18% powdered aluminium ||Developed for use in torpedoes, it was especially effective at producing destructive, underwater explosions.

| Trialen||RDX, TNT and powdered aluminium ||Used by the Luftwaffe. There were variety of versions with different proportions of the component chemicals.

|Explosive “D”

|Ammonium picrate || US Army/Navy

|Type 91 Explosive

|Trinitroanisol (TNA) || Japanese Army/Navy

Two nuclear explosives, containing mixtures of uranium and plutonium, respectively, were also used at the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

See also