FREEZING POINT AND GLASS TRANSITION TEMPERATURE OF DIGLYCEROL TETRANITRATE AND THE PRIMARY REACTIVITIES OF ITS PYROLANTS

Diglyceryl tetranitrate (DGTN) is an excellent energetic plasticizer with four nitrate ester groups and an ether bond in its molecular structure, thus possessing high energy performance. Herein, the measured freezing point and glass transition temperature of DGTN were -52.7°C and -60.8°C, respectively, while the freezing point of NG was as high as 13°C. In addition, to explore the energetic properties of DGTN, it was mix with NC, AP, Al, and nitroamine explosive, and the pyrolants using DGTN as plasticizer were prepared. These pyrolants showed good thermal decomposition characteristics and combustion performance. DSC testing revealed that activation energy for thermal decomposition of DGTN-based pyrolant was at the value of 137 kJ/mol. The combustion performance of DGTN-based pyrolant was tested using a high-speed camera, a high-sensitivity thermal infrared camera, and a combustion heat tester. The results disclosed that the DGTN-based pyrolants have high combustion pressure and high pressurization rate; the pyrolants also have high combustion temperature. Especially, the combustion heats of the pyrolants in excess pure oxygen are very high. In summary, DGTN and its pyrolants exhibited excellent energetic characteristics.