Effects of Superthermite Al/Fe2O3 on the Thermal Decomposition Characteristics of Nitrocellulose

The nano-Fe 2 O 3 was prepared by hydrothermal method,and then combined with Al nanoparticles using ultrasonic dispersion method to prepare superthermite Al/Fe 2 O 3 .The physical phase,composition,morphology and structure of the composite were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction（XRD）,transmission electron microscopy（TEM）and scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive spectrometer（SEM-EDS）.The differential scanning calorimetry（DSC）and the thermogravimetry with Fourier transform infrared analysis（TG-FTIR）were employed to investigate the effects of the superthermite Al/Fe 2 O 3 on the thermal decomposition process of nitrocellulose（NC）.The results show that the thermal decomposition reactions of Al/Fe 2 O 3 -NC composite and NC follow the same thermal decomposition mechanism with the Avrami-Erofeev equation of f（α）=1.5（1-α）[-ln（1-α）]1/3.The superthermite Al/Fe 2 O 3 can reduce the activation energy of the decomposition reaction,the thermal ignition temperature and the critical temperature of thermal explosion of NC,and it plays a crucial role in promoting the O-NO 2 bond cleavage of NC and secondary autocatalytic reactions in condensed phase.