Studies on the Kinetics of the First Order Autocatalytic Decomposition Reaction of Highly Nitrated Nitrocellulose

Abstract

The kinetics of the first order autocatalytic decomposition reaction of highly nitrated nitrocellulose (HNNC, 14.14%N) was studied by using thermogravimetry (TG). The results show that the TG curve for the initial 50% of mass-loss of HNNC can be described by the first order autocatalytic equation

$$\frac{{{\text{d}}y}} {{dt}} = - 10^{16.4} \exp \left( { - \frac{{210380}} {{RT}}} \right)y - 10^{16.7} \exp \left( { - \frac{{171205}} {{RT}}} \right)y(1 - y)$$

and that for the latter 50% mass-loss of HNNC described by the reaction equations

$$\frac{{dy}} {{dy}} = - 10^{16.3} \exp \left( { - \frac{{169483}} {{RT}}} \right)y\quad (n = 1)$$

and

$$\frac{{dy}} {{dt}} = - 10^{16.8} \exp \left( { - \frac{{165597}} {{RT}}} \right)y^{2.61} \quad (n \ne 1)$$