Organic eutectic mixture as efficient stabilizer for nitrocellulose: Kinetic modeling and stability assessment

Abstract The effect of organic eutectic mixture of diphenylamine (DPA) and N- (2-methoxyethyl)-p-nitroaniline (MENA) with respect to its pure components on the stability of nitrocellulose (NC) has been investigated by means of stability tests and kinetic modeling. The prepared mixtures have been analyzed by FTIR, XRD, and DSC. The obtained results showed that the eutectic composition does not reveal any compatibility issue with NC. The Bergmann-Junk and Vacuum Stability Test results demonstrated that all samples are stable. The NC stabilized by the eutectic mixture (DPA + MENA) displayed the best stabilizing effect compared to that stabilized by the pure components. Furthermore, kinetic modeling has been carried out by isoconversional analysis to determine the kinetic triplet. It was found that the NC stabilized by the eutectic mixture presents the highest average activation energy, what corroborating the stability tests results and justifying the potential of such eutectic composition as efficient NC stabilizer.