Co-agglomerated Crystals of CL-20 with Insensitive Nitrogen-rich Energetic Materials

Abstract

Co-agglomeration is a novel approach in energetic crystal engineering which has been proven an effective strategy to desensitize energetic materials. This research utilized three newly-developed insensitive nitrogen-rich energetic materials with different structures to form co-agglomerated crystals with 2,4,6,8,10,12-hexanitro-2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaazaisowurtzitane (CL-20) through hydrogen bonds. The prepared co-agglomerated crystals exhibited prominent mechanical sensitivities, whose critical impact energy and critical friction load pressure rose to 4~6 J and >360 N, respectively, from 1 J and 80 N for pure CL-20. Besides, the evolution of thermal properties, including decomposition temperature, activation energy, zero-heating-rate peak temperature, critical temperatures and thermodynamics parameters of thermal explosion were also investigated. The thermal decomposition temperatures of co-agglomerated crystals were lower than those of pure CL-20, nitrogen-rich energetic materials and corresponding physical mixtures. This study brought a novel thought to desensitize CL-20.