3,4-Diamino-1,2,4-triazole based energetic salts: synthesis, characterization, and energetic properties

Abstract

The protonation or metathesis synthesis and energetic properties of a new class of energetic materials, energetic salts of 3,4-diamino-triazole (DATr), are described. They were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), elemental analysis (EA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and X-ray single-crystal diffraction. The DSC results showed that these salts had acceptable thermal stabilities; the decomposition temperatures of these salts, except compound 4, were over 200 °C. The density of the series of salts ranged from 1.704 g cm⁻³ (2 and 6) to 1.82 g cm⁻³ (7), placing them in a class of relatively dense compounds, and the heats of formation were calculated with the Gaussian 03 suite of programs. All the salts except 5 exhibited promising detonation performances (detonation pressure: 21.5–32.8 GPa, detonation velocity: 7017–8620 m s⁻¹), which were much higher than both those of TNT, and salt 4 was even comparable to RDX. Impact sensitivities were also determined by hammer tests and the results ranged from 8 J (sensitive) to >40 J (insensitive).