Effect of Particle Size on the Thermal Decomposition of ε-Hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane

Abstract

The influence of the particle size on the thermal decomposition of ε-hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane (HNIW) was studied by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The kinetics and mechanism for the decomposition were evaluated using integral methods. It was found that the thermal kinetic parameters such as activation energy (E) and pre-exponential factor (A) depend little on the particle size of ε-HNIW in the range 4–180 μm, and an A3 model function fits most of the data from the decomposition of the material.