Influence of different energetic plasticizers on the performance of NC-RDX nitramine gun propellants

Energetic plasticizers are an essential component of propellants and have a significant impact on their performance, such as energy, combustion, and mechanics. Therefore, there is significant practical value in understanding how plasticizers affect the performance of propellants. In this work, the glass transition temperatures of several energetic plasticizers were compared. By adding energetic plasticizers with good compatibility with the propellant and a low glass transition temperature to the propellant, nitramine gun propellants containing different energetic plasticizers were prepared through a semi-solvent method. The compatibility, thermal behavior, phase structure, composition, mechanical properties, energy, and combustion performance of the nitramine gun propellants were characterized. The influence of plasticizers on the phase structure of the propellant and its mechanism on the combustion performance of the propellant were discussed. Energetic plasticizers GAPE, DNPH, and BuNENA have good compatibility and chemical stability with NC-RDX and display good plasticization. GAPE–NC–RDX, DNPH–NC–RDX, and BuNENA–NC–RDX propellants exhibit stable combustion performance at −40 °C, 20 °C, and 50 °C. Compared with the nitramine gun propellant plasticized with NG, the impact strength of the propellant plasticized with DNPH and BuNENA increased by 108.1 % and 17.2 % at −40 °C, respectively. This work offers a solution to improve the phase structure, mechanical properties, and combustion stability of heterogeneous gun propellants, and provides a way to suppress the excessive burning rate and flame temperature of propellants.