Thermal decomposition and shelf-life of PETN and PBX based on PETN using thermal methods

Abstract

Binders exert a strong influence on the safety and explosion properties of polymer­bonded explosives (PBX) based on pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN). In this paper, the thermal behavior and decomposition kinetics of two PBX samples formulated from PETN were evaluated along with a PETN sample using various thermal techniques and analytical methods. The experimental results demonstrate that the nitrocellulose (NC) binder accelerated the thermal decomposition process and hence reduced the thermal stability and shelf-life of the PBX compared to PETN, whereas the polystyrene (PS) binder seems to play no negative influence on the thermal stability of PETN in the PBX composition.