Author(s)

Mónica Rodríguez-Pesina¹, Jorge García-Domínguez², Felipe García-Hernández², Luisa Maria Flores-Vélez³, Octavio Domínguez^1*

¹Institute of Metallurgy, UASLP, San Luis Potosi, México.
²INIDETAM, Polígono Naval, Antón Lizardo, Veracruz, México.
³Faculty of Chemistry, UASLP, San Luis Potosi, México.

The thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP) with Al and Zn metallic particles was studied at different heating rates in dry air atmosphere and the combustion behavior of AP/Al/Zn propellant was evaluated. The exothermic reaction kinetics was studied by differential thermal analysis (DTA) in non-isothermal conditions and compare with the thermal decomposition of pure AP and AP/aluminum particles analyzed in the same experimental conditions. The Arrhenius parameters were estimated according to the Ozawa and Kissinger methods. The calculated activation energies for the low and high temperature exothermic reactions were 91 and 229 kJ/mol for pure AP, 90 and 112 kJ/mol for 80 wt% AP/20 wt% Al particles. When zinc was incorporated, activation energy of 56 kJ/mol was determined for the only exothermic peak observed for 90 wt% AP/10 wt% Zn and 44 kJ/mol for 78.4 wt% AP/19.6 wt% Al/2 wt% Zn propellant composition.

Thermal Analysis, Ozawa Method, Kissinger Method, Thermal Decomposition, Ammonium Perchlorate, Propellants

Rodríguez-Pesina, M. , García-Domínguez, J. , García-Hernández, F. , Flores-Vélez, L. and Domínguez, O. (2017) The Thermal Decomposition of Ammonium Perchlorate-Aluminum Propellants in Presence of Metallic Zinc Particles. Materials Sciences and Applications, 8, 436-447. doi: 10.4236/msa.2017.86030.