Characterization of the Thermal Degradation of Selected Energetic Materials and Mixtures by Rapid-Scan Fourier Transform Infrared (RSFTIR) Spectroscopy

Abstract

Abstract : There has been considerable interest in ethylenediammonium dinitrate (EDD) as a component of mixtures with other nitrate salts and various organic molecules for use in melt castable explosives. Most of this work is described in the international patent literature. EDD mixtures with ammonium nitrate (AN) are more thermally stable than EDD alone, and they have better performance than AN alone. The eutectic mixture has a lower melting point than either component making it suitable for melt casting. However, EDD/AN mixtures suffer from volume changes with temperature because of the phase transitions of AN. The addition of potassium nitrate (KN) stabilizes the AN and counters the expansion of AN at 32 C caused by one of the solid-solid phase transitions. This Interim Report describes the fast thermal decomposition processes of AN, EDD and two heterogeneous mixtures: EDD/AN (50/50) and EDD/AN/KN (46/46/8), called EAK. The techniques employed are rapid scan Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy/Temperature Profiling as the main technique and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to support the temperature profiling data obtained at the high heating rates.