Review and prospect of thermal analysis technology applied to study thermal properties of energetic materials

The applications of thermal analysis technologies in evaluating the thermal properties of energetic materials in China are briefly reviewed. They are widely adopted in the determination of thermal stability, compatibility and thermophysical constants, as well as the study of thermal decomposition kinetics, mechanism and interaction. In addition, some researches of development or innovation, including the evaluation of gas-formation reaction kinetics by using Thermo- infrared or Thermo- mass spectrometry, the evaluation of condensed-phase reaction kinetics based on monitoring the alteration of functional groups by using the Thermo- infrared spectroscopy, the examination on the mechanisms of topochemical reactions, the disclosure of the correlations between thermal properties and the combustion performances or mechanical properties, predictions of the life and low-temperature viscosity, determination of the low-temperature thermal behaviors of liquid energetic materials and TX (temperature-component content ratio) and HX (fusion heat-component content ratio) phase diagram are summarized and discussed. The future development of the thermal analyses on energetic materials is also discussed with suggestions proposed.