Solubility of RDX and HMX in Liquid Nitrate Esters

ABSTRACT We measure the solubility of cyclotrimethylene trinitramine (RDX) and cyclotetramethylene tetranitramine (HMX) in the liquid nitrate esters nitroglycerin (NG), butanetriol trinitrate (BTTN) and trimethylolethane trinitrate (TMETN), which are commonly used together in military rocket propellants. As the solvents are impact‐sensitive explosives, we first develop and validate a new measurement method to allow for safe solubility measurements of impact‐sensitive explosives. In contrast to published molecular dynamic simulations, we find that the solubility in NG, BTTN and TMETN is low between 20 and 60°C, with the highest solubility of RDX in NG being 3 g L , while the solubility of HMX is below the detection limit of 0.75 g L within this temperature range.