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STANAG 4178
STANAG 4178 Nitrocellulose quality test procedures
Producers and buyers of nitrocellulose for NATO energetic materials, and the laboratories that test it.
STANAG 4178 is NATO's agreement on test procedures for assessing nitrocellulose quality for energetic materials. NATO has not released it publicly; this page describes it from the Czech implementing standard and NATO publications that cite it.
- Edition
- 3
- Published
- 2022-03-30
NATO has not released this STANAG publicly. It is NATO UNCLASSIFIED, and organisations that need it obtain it through their national standardization authority.
What it is
STANAG 4178 is the NATO Standardization Agreement on energetic materials, test procedures for assessing the quality of nitrocellulose, covering the publication AOP-4178 edition A. Edition 3 was promulgated on 30 March 2022, sponsored by CNAD, AC/326 CASG, SG/A, EMT. NATO has not released STANAG 4178 publicly, so this page describes it from the Czech implementing standard and from public NATO publications that cite it.
Where it is cited
The Czech implementation, ČOS 137605, implements STANAG 4178 edition 3 (AOP-4178(A)). The Czech defence standards index describes it as setting out uniform test methods for assessing the quality of nitrocellulose intended for use in manufacturing energetic materials (explosives).
NATO publications that cite it give its earlier title as test procedures for assessing the quality of deliveries of nitrocellulose from one NATO nation to another; AOP-4682 cites edition 2 under that name.
AOP-4682, a NATO publication whose test procedures are meant to let countries be satisfied with the quality of ingredients for military use, explains the boundary between the two documents: "STANAG 4178 covers the chemical and physical testing of nitrocellulose because most of its test methods are unique to that material." For that reason AOP-4682 does not deal with chemical and physical tests for nitrocellulose.
Annex A of AOP-64 tabulates ageing phenomena, their possible effects and the tests used to detect them. For nitrocellulose chain scission, whose possible effect is a decrease in mechanical strength, it gives gel permeation chromatography (GPC) with STANAG 4178 as the reference and marks it as an internationally recognised test. Its notes add that suitable sample preparation, usually extraction of other components following national procedures, may be required before GPC analysis of nitrocellulose according to STANAG 4178. For GPC testing of polymer chain scission in melt-cast PBX, the annex notes that "STANAG 4178 may be applicable or provide a basis for developing a procedure", and elsewhere that "Nations can orient their GPC method with STANAG 4178 as a guidance".
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A supplier bound by STANAG 4178 through a contract holds the obtained text through its national authority. In ComplyTrain you record the requirements that apply to you as your own requirements, give each an owner, and keep the evidence that shows you meet them against each one.
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