Premium
Kinetic mechanism on Thermal Degradation of a Nitrate Ester Propellant
Author(s) -
Kimura J.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
propellants, explosives, pyrotechnics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.56
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1521-4087
pISSN - 0721-3115
DOI - 10.1002/prep.19880130103
Subject(s) - homolysis , autocatalysis , activation energy , chemistry , atmospheric temperature range , kinetic energy , thermodynamics , propellant , thermogravimetry , reaction mechanism , dissociation (chemistry) , bond dissociation energy , inorganic chemistry , radical , organic chemistry , catalysis , physics , quantum mechanics
Abstract The thermal degradation of a double‐base propellant has been studied to elucidate the rate‐determining steps and the kinetic mechanism in a wide range of temperatures (60°C–200°C) by using modified Taliani test, thermogravimetry (TG), and temperature‐varied Abel (TVA) test. The results indicate that the degradation process consists of two major reactions, homolysis and autocatalysis, depending on temperature and total pressure due to evolved gases. The activation energy for the homolysis was obtained to be 35–37 kcal/mol from Taliani and TVA tests, which fall in the range of the bond dissociation energy of the weakest bonds RO–NO 2 . The activation energy for the autocatalysis was determined to be 46–49 kcal/mol from Taliani and TG methods. Those values observed for the two key reactions are totally opposite to reported values in the earlier literature. The temperature dependence of the reaction rates obtained in this study implies that the homolysis is the rate‐determining step in the lower temperature range, the autocatalysis in the higher temperature range.