Abstract
Al/CuO nanothermites have displayed unique catalytic activities in accelerating the thermolysis of nitrocellulose (NC) and combustion characteristics of AP/HTPB propellant depending on the morphology of CuO. The kinetic triplet of NC-based composites was determined by multi- isoconversional methods, whereas the reaction models were reconstructed by employing a modified Šesták–Berggren equation based on the combined kinetic analysis. DSC and TG-FTIR results revealed that CuO and Al/CuO play crucial roles in accelerating the dissociation of –O–NO2 bond and the coacervate phase to change the pyrolysis mechanism of NC from an autocatalytic reaction to a modified n-th order reaction model. It was also demonstrated that nanothermites were provided with a low starting temperature of pyrolysis, reduced exothermic peak temperature, low activation energy, and high total weight loss, confirming their better catalytic activity than their corresponding CuO, of which Al/CuO nanothermite, containing the gypsophila paniculata-like CuO, performs the best. Further, the shape of CuO was found to be significant in enhancing the burning rate of AP/HTPB propellant containing thermites, with the gypsophila paniculata-like presenting the best catalytic effect (43% improvement). Hence, introducing well-defined nanostructures is a promising way to improve the pyrolysis and combustion of energetic materials.
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This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21673179 and 21978232), Program for the Doctoral Scientific Research Foundation of Xi’an University of Technology (No. 109-451117004), Natural Science Basic Research Program of Shaanxi (Nos. 2018JQ2077, 2018GY-125, 2019NY-201 and 2021JM-322), and Scientific Research Project of Shaanxi Provincial Department of Education (No. 19JK0595).
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Zhao, N., Ma, H., Yao, E. et al. Influence of tailored CuO and Al/CuO nanothermites on the thermocatalytic degradation of nitrocellulose and combustion performance of AP/HTPB composite propellant. Cellulose 28, 8671–8691 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-021-04060-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-021-04060-w