Water-induced thermal Decomposition of Fireworks Gunpowder Chemical Composition

Abstract

In the firework industry, thermal decomposition is the main source of minor and fatal accidents. The existence of moisture and hygroscopic property of the fireworks chemical powders leads to thermal decomposition. In this study, firework chemicals combinations are modified by adding charcoal as one of the chemical powder. Here the gun powder is made using different chemical powders like potassium nitrate, sulfur, charcoal and it could be stored in shadow shed (stage-I) and followed by drying platform (stage-II). During this storage time, thermal analysis is carried out using Differential Scanning Calorimetric (DSC). DSC result of gun powder (after preparation) shows that thermal decomposition starts at 262.67°C and enthalpy is -521.57J/g. The gun powder from shadow shed it is 263.93°C and enthalpy is -378.21J/g. The onset temperature of the gun powder collected from the drying platform is 265.25°C and enthalpy is -284.01J/g. The sample after preparation contains more amount of moisture content absorbs more heat and initiates the thermal decomposition as earlier than the sample collected from shadow shed and drying platform. The heat dissipation rate is also reduced for stage I than stage II. So, the thermal hazards associated manufacturing process is very high when it contains more amount of moisture content