Preparation of Ferrocene-Terminated Dendrimers for the Thermal Decomposition of Ammonium Perchlorate.

Abstract

As a common oxidizer, ammonium perchlorate (AP) is an important component in composite solid propellants (CSPs). Ferrocene (Fc)-based compounds are often selected as burning rate catalysts (BRCs) to catalyze AP decomposition owing to the excellent catalytic behavior. However, one of the drawbacks of Fc-based BRCs is migration in CSPs. In this paper, five Fc-terminated dendrimers were designed and synthesized to improve the anti-migration properties, and their chemical structures were confirmed systemically by the related spectra characterization techniques. Moreover, the redox performance, catalytic effect on AP decomposition, combustion performance and mechanical properties in CSPs were also studied. The shapes of the prepared propellant samples were observed via scanning electron microscopy. The obtained Fc-based BRCs had good redox performance, positive effect on promoting AP decomposition, excellent combustion catalytic performance and good mechanical properties. Meanwhile, they had a higher anti-migration ability than Cat and Fc. This study demonstrates that Fc-terminated dendrimers have great potential to be applied as anti-migration BRCs in CSPs. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.