Melting of pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) nanoconfined incontrolled pore glasses (CPG)

The melting temperature depression of pentaerythritol tetranitrate, nanoconfined in controlled pore glasses (CPG), was systematically studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The solid-liquid interfacial energy sigma (sl) was obtained from the Gibbs-Thomson equation fit to melting temperature vs. reciprocal pore diameter. The pore size distribution of the CPG pores was also estimated from the DSC data. Pore sizes obtained from the manufacturer by BET are compared with those determined from the DSC curves using either the curves directly or by assuming spherical shaped confining cavities. The thermal mass vales are in better agreement with the BET estimation.