Components of an improvised explosive device?

Answer 1

Just to add a little more detail

According to the Energentic Materials Research and Testing Center (EMRTC) in the courseware for Incident Response to Terrorist Bombing

"An IEDs has four basic components which can be recalled by the acronym PIES:"

P- Power Supply (electric or non-electric)

I- Initiator - the component that starts the explosive chain ie squibs, blasting caps, flash bulbs, exposed filament)

E - Explosive either high or low. Can be commercial such as ANFO, Military such as SEMTEX or Homemade exposive like HMTD or TATP

S-Switches (Two Catagories mechanical or electrical) Switches usually perform two functions, safety arming & detonating

Answer 2

An Improvised Explosive Device (IED) is any bomb made of improvised components that happen to be available to the bomb maker.

For example in Iraq after the war they were typically left over unused artillery shells with the standard fuse removed and a blasting cap inserted in its place that could then be fired electrically either remotely by wires or on a timer.

Some are black powder bombs either enclosed in a pipe or a pressure cooker with metal objects (e.g. ball bearings, nails, nuts and bolts) to provide shrapnel to increase the kill rate.

Because they are improvised there is a near infinite range of components that may be used depending on what is available to the bomb maker.