Effect of particle size on thermal decomposition of nitrocellulose.

Data on the thermal stability of energetic materials such as nitrocellulose were required in order to obtain safety information for handling, storage and usage. In present study, the thermal stability of micron and nano-sized nitrocellulose samples was determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and simultaneous thermogravimetry-differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA) techniques. The results of TG analysis revealed that the main thermal degradation of nitrocellulose occurs in the temperature range of 190-210 degrees C. On the other hand, the TG-DTA analysis of samples indicated that particle size of nitrocellulose could affect on its thermal stability and its decomposition temperature decreases by decreasing its particle size. The influence of the heating rate (5, 10, 15 and 20 degrees C/min) on the DSC behaviour of the nitrocellulose with two particle sizes was verified. The results showed that, as the heating rate was increased, decomposition temperature of the micron and nano-sized compound was increased. Also, the kinetic parameters such as activation energy and frequency factor for the micron and nano-sized nitrocellulose were obtained from the DSC data by non-isothermal methods proposed by ASTM E696 and Ozawa.

[1]  M. Hassan.  Effect of malonyl malonanilide dimers on the thermal stability of nitrocellulose. , 2001, Journal of hazardous materials.

[2]  W. Yuan,et al.  Study on the Melting Process of Nitrocellulose by Thermal Analysis Method , 1999 .

[3]  Shufeng Wang,et al.  Fast spectroscopy of laser-initiated nanoenergetic materials , 2003 .

[4]  J. Mozejko,et al.  Thermodynamic functions of activated complexes created in thermal decomposition processes of sulphates , 2000 .

[5]  Gurdip Singh,et al.  Thermolysis of some transition metal nitrate complexes with 1,4-diamino butane ligand. , 2005, Journal of hazardous materials.

[6]  S. G. Hosseini,et al.  Thermal behavior of aluminum powder and potassium perchlorate mixtures by DTA and TG , 2006 .

[7]  A. Radomski,et al.  Nitrocellulose porosity - thermoporometry , 2003 .

[8]  S. G. Hosseini,et al.  Thermoanalytical investigation on some boron–fuelled binary pyrotechnic systems , 2008 .

[9]  S. M. Pourmortazavi,et al.  Thermal decomposition of pyrotechnic mixtures containing sucrose with either potassium chlorate or potassium perchlorate , 2005 .

[10]  Burak Erman,et al.  Electrospinning of polyurethane fibers , 2002 .

[11]  Gurdip Singh,et al.  Preparation, characterization and thermolysis of phenylenediammonium dinitrate salts. , 2008, Journal of hazardous materials.

[12]  W. Yuan,et al.  Estimation of the Critical Temperature of Thermal Explosion for the Highly Nitrated Nitrocellulose Using Non-isothermal DSC , 1999 .

[13]  Gurdip Singh,et al.  Studies on energetic compounds Part 45. Synthesis and crystal structure of disodium azotetrazole pentahydrate. , 2005, Journal of hazardous materials.

[14]  J. J. Rooney,et al.  Thermal analysis studies on the boron-potassium perchlorate-nitrocellulose pyrotechnic system , 1997 .

[15]  A. S. Tompa,et al.  Thermal stability of a plastic bonded explosive , 2000 .

[16]  W. P. C. de Klerk,et al.  Measurement of the relaxation transitions of nitrocellulose based gunpowder , 2006 .

[17]  L. Pérez-Maqueda,et al.  Dependence of the preexponential factor on temperature , 2005 .

[18]  J. M. Pickard.  Critical Ignition Temperature , 2002 .

[19]  S. G. Hosseini,et al.  Characterization of the aluminum/potassium chlorate mixtures by simultaneous TG-DTA , 2006 .

[20]  M. Rahimi‐Nasrabadi,et al.  Effect of nitrate content on thermal decomposition of nitrocellulose. , 2009, Journal of hazardous materials.

[21]  Intermolecular interactions and phase equilibria in nitrocellulose - s-diethyldiphenylurea system , 2003 .

[22]  M. Bohn.  Kinetic Modelling of the Concentrations of the Stabilizer DPA and Some of Its Consecutive Products as Function of Time and Temperature , 2001 .

[23]  S. G. Hosseini,et al.  The effect of the particle size of potassium chlorate in pyrotechnic compositions , 2004 .

[24]  T. Brill,et al.  Thermal Decomposition of Energetic Materials 69. Analysis of the kinetics of nitrocellulose at 50 °C–500 °C , 1997 .

[25]  S. Warrington,et al.  Characterization of the Zirconium/Potassium Perchlorate/Nitrocellulose pyrotechnic system by simultaneous thermogravimetry-differential thermal analysis-mass spectrometry , 1995 .

[26]  J. Agrawal,et al.  Studies on kinetics and mechanism of initial thermal decomposition of nitrocellulose , 1995 .

[27]  C. R. Nair,et al.  Kinetics of Alder-ene reaction of Tris(2-allylphenoxy)triphenoxycyclotriphosphazene and bismaleimides — a DSC study , 2001 .

[28]  Li Huwei,et al.  Studies on thermal decomposition of nitrocellulose by pyrolysis-gas chromatography , 1988 .

[29]  K. Kuo.  Combustion of Metalized Propellants , 1984 .

[30]  Alan K. Burnham,et al.  A historical and current perspective on predicting thermal cookoff behavior , 2006 .

[31]  Liu Fuping,et al.  The estimation of critical temperatures of thermal explosion for energetic materials using non-isothermal DSC , 1994 .