TY - JOUR
T1 - Preparation of sub-micron nitrocellulose particles for improved combustion behavior
AU - Zhang, Xin
AU - Weeks, Brandon L.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are grateful for support received from ONR (N00014-11-1-0424). This material is partially based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under Award Number 2008-ST-061-ED0001. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
PY - 2014/3/15
Y1 - 2014/3/15
N2 - A novel method to prepare sub-micron nitrocellulose particles with spherical shape is demonstrated. The morphology of the nitrocellulose can be controlled by the solvent and the growth temperature. Using dimethylformamide (DMF) at a growth temperature is 5. °C, reproducibly yielded spherical nitrocellulose particles. The final diameter of the prepared nitrocellulose particles can be further tuned by concentration. The smallest particles in this study were found to have diameters of 500. nm at a concentration of 5-10. mg/ml with 2 micron spheres formed at 30. mg/ml. Furthermore, the thermal properties and the burn rates of the prepared materials are studied by differential scanning calorimetry and digital high-speed photography, respectively. In comparison to the bulk nitrocellulose material, the sub-micron nitrocellulose particles have lower decomposition activation energy, a 350% increase in burn rate, and a more complete combustion.
AB - A novel method to prepare sub-micron nitrocellulose particles with spherical shape is demonstrated. The morphology of the nitrocellulose can be controlled by the solvent and the growth temperature. Using dimethylformamide (DMF) at a growth temperature is 5. °C, reproducibly yielded spherical nitrocellulose particles. The final diameter of the prepared nitrocellulose particles can be further tuned by concentration. The smallest particles in this study were found to have diameters of 500. nm at a concentration of 5-10. mg/ml with 2 micron spheres formed at 30. mg/ml. Furthermore, the thermal properties and the burn rates of the prepared materials are studied by differential scanning calorimetry and digital high-speed photography, respectively. In comparison to the bulk nitrocellulose material, the sub-micron nitrocellulose particles have lower decomposition activation energy, a 350% increase in burn rate, and a more complete combustion.
KW - Burn rate
KW - Energetic materials (EMs)
KW - Nitrocellulose (NC)
KW - Sub-micron particles
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84893448873&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2014.01.019
DO - 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2014.01.019
M3 - Article
C2 - 24509093
AN - SCOPUS:84893448873
SN - 0304-3894
VL - 268
SP - 224
EP - 228
JO - Journal of Hazardous Materials
JF - Journal of Hazardous Materials
ER -