Thermal Behavior and Kinetics of Double Base Propellant Catalyzed with Green Graphene Iron Oxide Nanocomposite

Abstract

AbstractIn this work, a green approach for the synthesis of graphene‐iron oxide nanocomposite (GINC) was followed. FTIR, Raman, XRD and SEM analysis tools were all used to characterize the synthesized nanocomposite. Furthermore, the Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) method was used to investigate the GINC′s catalytic activity for the decomposition of a double base propellant (DBP). Kinetic characteristics for the thermal decomposition of DBP such as activation energy and frequency factor, were determined using iso‐conversional approaches, including Vyazovkin's nonlinear integral with compensatory effect (VYA/CE), iterative Kissinger‐Akahira‐Sunose (It‐KAS), and iterative Flynn‐Wall‐Ozawa (It‐FWO). Based on the results obtained from the kinetic analysis, the introduction of GINC has reduced the activation energy of the pristine DBP (approximately 230 kJ/mol) by 40 kJ/mol, showing that this addition has good catalytic activity on the thermal degradation of DBP. Additionally, the results showed that the critical ignition temperature is augmented from 187.1 to 199.6 °C, when DBP is doped with 3 % GINC highlighting the fact that GINC enhanced the thermal safety of DBP.