Abstract
Research efforts for realizing safer and higher performance energetic materials are continuing unabated all over the globe. While the thermites – pyrotechnic compositions of an oxide and a metal – have been finely tailored thanks to progress in other sectors, organic high explosives are still stagnating. The most symptomatic example is the longstanding challenge of the nanocrystallization of 1,3,5-trinitroperhydro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX). Recent advances in crystallization processes and milling technology mark the beginning of a new area which will hopefully lead the pyroelectric industry to finally embrace nanotechnology. This work reviews the previous and current techniques used to crystallize RDX at a submicrometer scale or smaller. Several key points are highlighted then discussed, such as the smallest particle size and its morphology, and the scale-up capacity and the versatility of the process.
Highlights
While nanotechnology has spread to most other sub-fields of material science, the pyrotechnic community has struggled to produce very fine particles of organic explosives
The present review aims to fairly depict all the crystallization processes used on the same material, RDX, and the limitations encountered
Even if Physical vapor deposition (PVD) has been successfully used in the semiconductor sector for our everyday electronic devices for decades, PVD applied on energetic materials will never be able to reach a production of several hundred of grams per hour
Summary
While nanotechnology has spread to most other sub-fields of material science, the pyrotechnic community has struggled to produce very fine particles of organic explosives. Qiu et al studied the crystallization of energetic compounds using spray drying with ultrasonic [84] or pneumatic [85] nozzles or with both type of nozzles [86] All their experiments were done with the addition of poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) and resulted in micrometer-sized or sub-micrometer hollow spheres made of primary nanoparticles; the smallest of which were estimated at 20 nm for RDX/PVAc made from a pneumatic nozzle with a mean droplet size of around 7 μm. Risse and Spitzer developed an innovative process after experiencing the limitations of the ultrasonic spray pyrolysis method: beyond the inherent risk of using a high voltage electrostatic precipitator for energetic powders, the rate of evaporation of droplets was too low to avoid agglomeration and to crystallize sub-micrometer particles. All the synthesized RDX samples were less sensitive, especially toward electrostatic discharge
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