Unraveling the role of ammonium perchlorate on the thermal decomposition behavior and kinetics of NC/DEGDN energetic composite

• AP@NC-DEGDN composite was successfully synthesized through a casting method. • Uniform dispersion of AP within NC-DEGDN was obtained. • The decomposition kinetic parameters of the composites were determined. • AP plays a catalytic effect on NC-DEGDN composite and vice-versa. In this study, an energetic composite based on ammonium perchlorate (AP), nitrocellulose (NC), and diethylene glycol dinitrate (DEGDN) was successfully prepared and characterized using FTIR and SEM. Beforehand, the optimal composition was selected via theoretical performance calculations. The NC-DEGDN matrix was revealed to be an effective hosting matrix for the homogeneous dispersion of AP. The FTIR results indicated that the addition of AP did not alter the chemical structure of the baseline composite (NC-DEGDN). The thermal analyses proved that AP and NC-DEGDN can promote the decomposition of each other. The decomposition peak temperatures shifted to lower values for the different decomposition processes when AP is introduced, proving the catalytic effect from one to another while increasing the heat release by about 429 J g −1 . Kinetic modeling using isoconversional kinetic approaches showed a significant decrease in the activation energy and confirmed the excellent catalytic effect on the different decomposition stages of AP@NC-DEGDN. The introduction of ammonium perchlorate to NC-DEGDN mixture increases the reactivity, and the total heat release, producing a high-performance composite.