Safe Fabrication and Characterization of NC/CL-20/CnMs Nanoenergetic Composite Materials via Modified Sol-Gel

In this work, nitrocellulose/hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane/carbon nanomaterials (NC/CL-20/CnMs) nanoenergetic composite materials are synthesized by combining sol-gel and vacuum freeze-drying technology, wherein NC is chosen as the gel matrix to load CL-20 particles and CnMs. The results indicate that the CL-20 and CnMs are imbedded and homogeneously dispersed in the monolithic gel of NC matrix, and the polymorph of CL-20 maintains the optimal epsilon form during the fabrication process. The thermal results reveal that the onset temperature and exothermic temperature are visibly advanced compared with physical mixing and CL-20. In addition, the activation energy (E-a) of composites has also been calculated and exhibits lower E-a (110 kJ mol(-1)<) than that of raw materials (NC: 299.13 kJ mol(-1), CL-20: 157.93 kJ mol(-1)). Finally, the impact and frication sensitivities have been tested and present inspirational results that sensitivity is decreased greatly owning to buffer function of the monolithic gel of NC matrix. This fabrication strategy and conclusions will provide promising application for NC/CL-20/CnMs used in propellants.