Investigation of simultaneous formation of nano-sized CuO and ZnO on the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate for composite solid propellants

Abstract

Core/shell composites of CuC2O4·2H2O@AP and ZnC2O4·2H2O@AP were prepared from metal oxalates on suspended AP particles in ethanol. CuO and ZnO nano-metal oxides as the nano-catalysts were made from CuC2O4·2H2O and ZnC2O4·2H2O simultaneously by thermal decomposition of AP. The particle size of CuO nano-particles was very finer, and the ZnO particles showed a considerable growth during formation. The kinetic triplet of activation energy, frequency factor, and model of thermal decomposition of pure AP, CuC2O4·2H2O@AP, and ZnC2O4·2H2O@AP composites were estimated by applying three model-free (FWO, KAS, and Starink) and model-fitting (Starink) methods. Based on the thermal analysis, the CuC2O4@AP composite has better catalytic performance and the thermal decomposition temperature of AP decreased to about 126.44 °C.