A study on the isothermal decomposition kinetics of energetic cellulose-rich materials using a vacuum stability test

In this work, the isothermal decomposition kinetics of a promising high-energy dense nitrated cellulose carbamate (NCC) was investigated, for the first time, using vacuum stability test (VST) at different isothermal temperatures. The kinetic triplet of NCC was calculated by model-fitting and model-free methods, and compared to that of the conventional nitrocellulose (NC). VST results showed that the gas pressure of the studied energetic cellulose-rich materials (NCC and NC) increased with the increase in time test, which is found more pronounced for NCC compared to NC. Furthermore, thermo-kinetic findings demonstrated that the Arrhenius parameters determined by the two performed kinetic approaches are in good concordance. Indeed, the apparent activation energy of NCC is found to be around 141 kJ/mol, which is lower than that of the common NC (Eα = 152 kJ/mol). The model-fitting approach revealed that the mechanism of isothermal decomposition of NCC and NC is controlled by a chemical process. Besides, a strong linear relationship between the activation energy and the logarithm of the pre-exponential factor is observed. This work provides valuable guidance for the isothermal decomposition kinetics of energetic cellulose-rich materials and further supports and complements their kinetic database.

Graphical abstract