title: Enhanced Thermal Decomposition Properties of CL-20 through Space-Confining in Three-Dimensional Hierarchically Ordered Porous Carbon.
abstract: High energy and low signature properties are the future trend of solid propellant development. As a new and promising oxidizer, hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane (CL-20) is expected to replace the conventional oxidizer ammonium perchlorate to reach above goals. However, the high pressure exponent of CL-20 hinders its application in solid propellants so that the development of effective catalysts to improve the thermal decomposition properties of CL-20 still remains challenging. Here, 3D hierarchically ordered porous carbon (3D HOPC) is presented as a catalyst for the thermal decomposition of CL-20 via synthesizing a series of nanostructured CL-20/HOPC composites. In these nanocomposites, CL-20 is homogeneously space-confined into the 3D HOPC scaffold as nanocrystals 9.2-26.5 nm in diameter. The effect of the pore textural parameters and surface modification of 3D HOPC as well as CL-20 loading amount on the thermal decomposition of CL-20 is discussed. A significant improvement of the thermal decomposition properties of CL-20 is achieved with remarkable decrease in decomposition peak temperature (from 247.0 to 174.8 °C) and activation energy (from 165.5 to 115.3 kJ/mol). The exceptional performance of 3D HOPC could be attributed to its well-connected 3D hierarchically ordered porous structure, high surface area, and the confined CL-20 nanocrystals. This work clearly demonstrates that 3D HOPC is a superior catalyst for CL-20 thermal decomposition and opens new potential for further applications of CL-20 in solid propellants.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemical Materials, China Academy of Engineering Physics , Mianyang 621900, China.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemical Materials, China Academy of Engineering Physics , Mianyang 621900, China.
authors.forename: Simin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemical Materials, China Academy of Engineering Physics , Mianyang 621900, China.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemical Materials, China Academy of Engineering Physics , Mianyang 621900, China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemical Materials, China Academy of Engineering Physics , Mianyang 621900, China.
authors.forename: Zhiqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemical Materials, China Academy of Engineering Physics , Mianyang 621900, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemical Materials, China Academy of Engineering Physics , Mianyang 621900, China.
authors.forename: Liyuan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemical Materials, China Academy of Engineering Physics , Mianyang 621900, China.
authors.forename: Guangcheng
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6034-3860
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemical Materials, China Academy of Engineering Physics , Mianyang 621900, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huang
keywords: 3D hierarchically ordered porous carbon; CL-20; catalysts; nanocomposites; thermal decomposition properties