Thermal decomposition of RDX and mixtures

✍ Scribed by Ghulam Hussain; Gwilym Jenkyn Rees

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 477 KB
• Volume: 74
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0016-2361
• DOI: 10.1016/0016-2361(95)92665-s

✦ Synopsis

Thermal decomposition of pure cyclotrimethylene trinitramine (RDX) shows an endothermic peak at 205'C attributed to melting, followed by exothermic decomposition leading to a strong peak at 24O'C, and a very strong thermogravimetric peak at 260°C with a mass loss of 95%. However, the mixture of RDX, nitrocellulose and carbon (FX 300) shows a melting peak at 202'C with reduced intensity, and a decomposition peak at 255~C. A strong exothermic shoulder at 218'C, from the decomposition of nitrocellulose and other materials in the mixture is also seen. Addition of NH,ClO, to RDX causes decomposition, after melting, to take place abruptly, resulting in a very sharp and strong peak at 21O'C. However, in the case of FX300 no melting is observed; instead two strong exothermic peaks at 195 and 210°C occur, corresponding to the oxidation of nitrocellulose and RDX in the mixture. This indicates that the addition of NH,ClO, increases the decomposition of RDX, this effect being more pronounced in FX300. The most appropriate concentration of NH,ClO, is 10 wt%. Although NH,NO, decomposes prior to the melting decomposition of RDX, it does not show a marked effect on the decomposition of RDX and FX300. Additions of KCIO,, NaClO, and KNO, have no effect.