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Degradation of aged nitrocellulose investigated by thermal analysis and chemiluminescence

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Abstract

Non-isothermal thermogravimetry, differential scanning calorimetry and chemiluminescence were used for characterization of degradation of pre-aged nitrocellulose in order to elucidate the optimal route of extrapolation of rate constants from the region of the autoaccelerated reaction to lower temperatures. First order rate constants, the one characterizing the decomposition of nitrocellulose in the rate auto-accelerating region and the two constants corresponding to the slow process in induction period of nitrocellulose decomposition were shown to provide a sufficient description. The rate constants determined for several temperatures were shown to depend on the amount of char residue which is formed from pre-aged samples after the thermogravimetry runs from 40 to 550 °C.

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Acknowledgements

The present research has received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013 under the grant agreement no. 212218—Popart: Strategy for the preservation of plastic artefacts in museum collections. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support from the Grant Agency VEGA, Project No. 2/0115/09. This publication is the result of the project implementation: Centre for materials, layers and systems for applications and chemical processes under extreme conditions, Stage II which was supported by the Research & Development Operational Programme funded by the ERDF.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Polymer Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 11, 84541, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Jozef Rychlý, Lyda Matisová-Rychlá, Katarína Csomorová & Ivica Janigová

  2. Centre de Recherche sur la Conservation des Collections, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, MCC, CNRS, 36 rue Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire, 75005, Paris, France

    Agnes Lattuati-Derieux & Bertrand Lavédrine

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  1. Jozef Rychlý
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  2. Agnes Lattuati-Derieux
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  3. Lyda Matisová-Rychlá
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  6. Bertrand Lavédrine
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Correspondence to Jozef Rychlý.

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Rychlý, J., Lattuati-Derieux, A., Matisová-Rychlá, L. et al. Degradation of aged nitrocellulose investigated by thermal analysis and chemiluminescence. J Therm Anal Calorim 107, 1267–1276 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-011-1746-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-011-1746-8

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