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The study of RDX impurity and wax effects on the thermal decomposition kinetics of HMX explosive using DSC/TG and accelerated aging methods

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Abstract

The thermal decomposition kinetic behavior of three HMX explosive samples containing 5.0 mass% (A-HMX) and 0.5 mass% RDX impurity (B-HMX) and HMX desensitized with 5.0 mass% paraffin wax (W-HMX) was studied by non-isothermal differential scanning calorimetric and thermogravimetric techniques at different temperature scan rates and by isothermal accelerated aging method. Using KAS isoconversional method, the mean activation energies of 229.36, 221.05, and 267.37 kJ mol−1 were obtained for B-HMX, A-HMX, and W-HMX, respectively, showing the higher thermal stability of pure and desensitized HMX. Moreover, the reaction mechanism was found in Avrami–Erofeev A2 model for all samples. In this study, by using the calculated kinetics triplets, the chemical lifetime of explosives were predicted based on 5.0 mass% mass loss and were compared with isothermal accelerated aging results, under two constant temperatures. The experimental results in the higher temperatures demonstrated relatively better consistency with predicted values.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Malek Ashtar University of technology for supporting of this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Chemistry, Maleke-ashtar University of Technology, Shahin-shahr, Esfahan, Iran

    H. Sinapour, S. Damiri & H. R. Pouretedal

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  1. H. Sinapour
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  2. S. Damiri
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  3. H. R. Pouretedal
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Correspondence to S. Damiri.

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Sinapour, H., Damiri, S. & Pouretedal, H.R. The study of RDX impurity and wax effects on the thermal decomposition kinetics of HMX explosive using DSC/TG and accelerated aging methods. J Therm Anal Calorim 129, 271–279 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-017-6118-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-017-6118-6

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