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Different inhibition mechanisms and safety effects of TPU and EVA on thermal decomposition of RDX

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The combination of energetic materials (EMs) and binders into polymer-bonded explosives (PBX) is an important method for modifying explosives. To explore the effect of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and ethylene–vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) on pyrolysis and safety performance on EMs, the RDX-based PBXs were prepared by mechanical mixing method, direct method and microencapsulation method, respectively. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were used to find out composites for the possibility of further application. The PBXs samples coated by TPU or EVA using the direct method with the maximal enthalpy of mixing were selected and characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The thermal decomposition tests of RDX and the two prepared PBXs were further carried out by thermogravimetry/infrared/mass (TG/IR/MS). The impact sensitivity and laser ignition tests were also performed to determine the mechanical sensitivity effect and ignition influence of the two binders on RDX. The result indicated that TPU increased the activation energy of RDX and inhibited the subsequent pyrolysis process. EVA significantly increased the decomposition peak temperature, indicating that it can improve the initial thermal stability of EMs. Both TPU and EVA improve the ignition performance, but EVA reduces the impact sensitivity. Therefore, EVA exhibits better performance than TPU in RDX-based PBXs.

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Acknowledgements

The authors greatly appreciate for the support from Key Science and Technology Innovation Team of Shaanxi Province (2022TD-33) and gratefully acknowledge the financial support of National Natural Science Foundation of China (21673179, 12002266).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical Engineering, Northwest University, Xi’an, 710069, China

    Jing An, Jianyou Zeng & Haixia Ma

  2. Xi’an Modern Chemistry Institute, Xi’an, 710065, China

    Ronghui Ju & Yiming Luo

  3. School of Physics, Northwest University, Xi’an, 710069, China

    Hao Luo

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  1. Jing An
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  3. Jianyou Zeng
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  4. Yiming Luo
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All authors contributed to conceptualization and methodology. Data collection, curation, analysis, and presentation were performed by Jing An. Material preparation was provided by Ronghui Ju, Yiming Luo, Hao Luo, Haixia Ma. Jing An wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Haixia Ma, Jing An and Jianyou Zeng engaged in reviewing and editing of the manuscript.

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An, J., Ju, R., Zeng, J. et al. Different inhibition mechanisms and safety effects of TPU and EVA on thermal decomposition of RDX. J Therm Anal Calorim 147, 11261–11272 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-022-11370-z

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