The catalytic effect of CoCuZnF on the thermal decomposition of 3-nitro-2,4-dihydro-1,2,4-triazol-5-one (NTO) and nanosize NTO

Cobalt-copper-zinc ferrite (CoCuZnF) nanoparticles were synthesized using the precipitation method. The characterization of CoCuZnF was carried out using powder XRD, Raman, IR, UV–vis, and FEG-SEM. The TG-DSC data of NTO, and nNTO containing the catalyst was used to study the thermal decomposition behavior. Three non-isothermal methods were used to evaluate the kinetic parameters. The kinetics data suggests that incorporation of CoCuZnF additive can effectively decrease the high activation energy of NTO by ∼83–88 kJ mol⁻¹ and nNTO (∼205–216 kJ mol⁻¹). The decomposition of both NTO and nNTO was faster in the presence of CoCuZnF, suggesting its plausible use in the high explosive munitions containing NTO.