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Development and characterization of innovative energetic composites based on nitrotriazolone and nanostructured cellulose nitrates

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Abstract

In response to the demands for elevated energy levels and enhanced homogeneity in propellant and explosive formulations, new energetic composites based on unmodified and modified nanostructured cellulose nitrate and 3-nitro-2,4-dihydro-3H-l,2,4-triazol-3-one (NTO) were fully scrutinized. Indeed, microcrystalline cellulose nitrate (MCCN)/NTO, and carbamated microcrystalline cellulose nitrate (M3CN)/NTO composites were elaborated using a solvent evaporation method and their characteristics were compared to those of nitrocellulose (NC)/NTO. Experimental findings highlighted that the newly developed energetic composites exhibit favorable features, including a density exceeding 1.775 g/cm3. Moreover, theoretical performance calculations using EXPLO5 version 6.02.06 indicated that the optimal composition resulted in excellent specific impulses and detonation velocities, which increased from 217.5 s and 7910 m/s for NC/NTO to 235.1 s and 8165 m/s for M3CN/NTO. Structural analyses revealed a homogeneous dispersion and embedding of NTO particles within the nitrated cellulosic matrix. In addition, thermo-kinetic results demonstrated that the activation energy of the three designed energetic composites is lower than that of pristine NTO explosive. Therefore, this investigation offers a potential fabrication approach and basic theory for the application of nanostructured cellulose nitrate in advanced high-performance energetic formulations.

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The authors declare that they have received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Energetic Materials Laboratory (EMLab), Teaching and Research Unit of Energetic Processes, Ecole Militaire Polytechnique, BP 17, Bordj El-Bahri, 16046, Algiers, Algeria

    Hani Boukeciat, Ahmed Fouzi Tarchoun, Djalal Trache, Amir Abdelaziz, Ayemen Bouhantala & Chemseddine Boustila

  2. Department of Chemistry, Ludwig Maximilian University, Butenandtstrasse 5–13 (D), 81377, Munich, Germany

    Thomas M. Klapötke

  3. Department of Organic Chemistry, Bioorganic Chemistry and Biotechnology, Silesian University of Technology, B. Krzywoustego 4, 44-100, Gliwice, Poland

    Sourbh Thakur

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  1. Hani Boukeciat
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Contributions

H.B.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Resources, Investigation, Data treatment, Writing-Original Draft. A.F.T., and D.T.: Supervision, Conceptualization, Review, Editing. A.A., A.B., and C.B.: Resources, Investigation, Data treatment. T.M.K., and S.T.: Review & Editing the manuscript draft. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ahmed Fouzi Tarchoun, Djalal Trache or Sourbh Thakur.

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Boukeciat, H., Tarchoun, A.F., Trache, D. et al. Development and characterization of innovative energetic composites based on nitrotriazolone and nanostructured cellulose nitrates. Cellulose (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-024-05931-8

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