What makes pipe bombs so dangerous compared to other improvised explosives?
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A bunch of ignited gunpowder just flashes. A bunch of gunpowder sealed in something and ignited increases pressure until it bursts its container. The more pressure the container can hold before bursting, the bigger the boom. Gunpowder is stored in containers that are purposely designed very weak so there can be no boom if accidentally ignited. A seam will pop open under the slightest pressure, and the gunpowder will just burn.
A hefty metal pipe plus the end caps is just a container that is easily available, easy to craft into a bomb, and strong enough to create a big boom, plus the metal creates shrapnel. A pipe bomb using PVC pipe is still a pipe bomb, but it won’t be as powerful, the shrapnel not as deadly.
But a pipe is not necessarily any more dangerous than other gunpowder-based explosives.
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