Development of comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography for investigating aging of plastic bonded explosives

Journal Article · Mon Sep 30 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Journal of Chromatography

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chroma.2019.460580· OSTI ID:1570650

Freye, Christopher Edward ^[1]; Rosales, Christopher James ^[1]; Thompson, Darla Graff ^[1]; Brown, Geoffrey Wayne  ^[1]; Larson, Sheldon Arthur ^[1]

---

1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

The feasibility of measuring the aging and degradation of PBX 9501 via online two dimensional liquid chromatography (LC × LC) is investigated, and a preliminary instrumental setup and method is developed. Plastic-Bonded eXplosive (PBX) 9501 is nominally composed of 94.9 wt% HMX, 2.5 wt% Estane® 5703 (poly (ester urethane)), 2.5 wt% BDNPA/F (nitroplasticizer), 0.1 wt% Irganox 1010 and PBNA (N-phenyl-naphthylamine) at low concentrations. When exposed to various environmental conditions, PBX 9501 will degrade through different pathways. Because PBX 9501 is composed of both low molecular weight compounds (BDNPA/F, Irganox 1010, PBNA, and potential degradation products) and high molecular weight compounds (Estane® 5703), analysis is normally performed via two independent analyses. Additionally, the low molecular weight species are analyzed via high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) and the high molecular weight species via size exclusion chromatography (SEC). While these individual techniques yield information about the aging of PBX 9501, the combination of HPLC and SEC (i.e. HPLC × SEC) can simplify and streamline the analyses while also providing additional chemical information. A simplified sample preparation method is proposed for LC × LC analysis. Various SEC columns and HPLC column selection, flow rate, and gradient ramps were investigated for their application of measuring aged PBX 9501. Lastly, two LC × LC separations of a library standard of PBX 9501 and a sample of aged PBX 9501 are compared.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• Grant/Contract Number: 89233218CNA000001
• OSTI ID: 1570650
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1591697
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-19-25083
• Journal Information: Journal of Chromatography, Vol. 1611; ISSN 0021-9673
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
Liquid chromatography
Comprehensive two-dimensional
PBX 9501
Explosives