Experimental and theoretical studies on stability of new stabilizers for N-methyl-P-nitroaniline derivative in CMDB propellants

Qiufan Tang; Xuezhong Fan; Jizhen Li; Fuqiang Bi; Xiaolong Fu; Lianjie Zhai

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2016.12.049

Experimental and theoretical studies on stability of new stabilizers for N-methyl-P-nitroaniline derivative in CMDB propellants

J Hazard Mater. 2017 Apr 5:327:187-196. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2016.12.049. Epub 2016 Dec 28.

Authors

Qiufan Tang¹, Xuezhong Fan², Jizhen Li³, Fuqiang Bi¹, Xiaolong Fu¹, Lianjie Zhai¹

Affiliations

¹ Xi'an Modern Chemistry Research Institute, Xi'an 710065, China.
² Xi'an Modern Chemistry Research Institute, Xi'an 710065, China. Electronic address: xuezhongfan@126.com.
³ Xi'an Modern Chemistry Research Institute, Xi'an 710065, China; Key Laboratory of Applied Surface and Colloid Chemistry, MOE/School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710062, China.

PMID: 28064147
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2016.12.049

Abstract

Although N-methyl-P-nitroaniline (MNA) was a quite effective stabilizer in composite modified double base (CMDB) propellants, it undergoes crystallization easily from nitroglycerin (NG) during storage. In order to improve its solubility in nitroglycerin (NG) and the stability in propellants, several new stabilizers including N-ethyl-p-nitroaniline (ENA), N-n-propyl-p-nitroaniline (n-PNA), N-i-propyl-p-nitroaniline (i-PNA), N-n-butyl-p-nitroaniline (n-BNA) and N-t-butyl-p-nitroaniline (t-BNA) were designed and synthesized to replace MNA by increasing the carbon chain length. The interaction between NG and different stabilizers was simulation by Materials Studio 5.5 and the stability and the high temperature stability performance of those new stabilizers in propellants were calculated by Gaussian 09. It was found that both the solubility of new stabilizers in NG and the stability and the high temperature stability performance of those in propellants were improved when the carbon chain length of substitution groups on nitrogen atom was increased. Thus, the n-BNA was a most potential stabilizer. Then all properties of the stabilizers were studied experimentally, which was agreement well with the theoretical analysis.

Keywords: CMDB propellant; Computational simulation; Stability mechanism; Stabilizers.