Thermodynamic Analysis Of Pure And Impurity Doped Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate Crystals Grown At Room Temperature

Conference · Thu May 25 04:00:00 EDT 2006

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-006-8462-9· OSTI ID:896296

Pitchimani, R; Zheng, W; Simon, S; Hope-Weeks, L; Burnham, A K; Weeks, B L

Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) powders are used to initiate other explosives. During long-term storage, changes in powder properties can cause changes in the initiation performance. Changes in the morphology and surface area of aging powders are observed due to sublimation and growth of PETN crystals through coarsening mechanisms, (e.g. Ostwald ripening, sintering, etc.). In order to alleviate the sublimation of PETN crystals under service conditions, stabilization methods such as thermal cycling and doping with certain impurities during or after the crystallization of PETN have been proposed. In this report we present our work on the effect of impurities on the morphology and activation energy of the PETN crystals. The pure and impurity doped crystals of PETN were grown from supersaturated acetone solution by solvent evaporation technique at room temperature. The difference in the morphology of the impurity-doped PETN crystal compared to pure crystal was examined by optical microscopy. The changes in the activation energies and the evaporation rates are determined by thermogravimetric (TGA) analyses. Our activation energies of evaporation agree with earlier reported enthalpies of vaporization. The morphology and activation energy of PETN crystals doped with Ca, Na, and Fe cations are similar to that for pure PETN crystal, whereas the Zn-ion-doped PETN crystals have different morphology and decreased activation energy.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 896296
• Report Number(s): UCRL-CONF-221788
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
ACETONE
ACTIVATION ENERGY
AGING
CATIONS
CRYSTALLIZATION
EVAPORATION
EXPLOSIVES
IMPURITIES
MORPHOLOGY
OPTICAL MICROSCOPY
PETN
RIPENING
SINTERING
SOLVENTS
SUBLIMATION
SURFACE AREA
THERMAL CYCLING
THERMODYNAMICS