Journal of Energetic Materials

Ammonium nitrate (AN) is widely used in fertilizers, civilian explosives and military explosives. Due to crystalline phase transitions and density changes of AN in the ambient conditions, its usage as oxidizer in solid propellants has some limitations as compared to ammonium perchlorate (AP). Several methods have been introduced to overcome these problems. In the present paper, the phase transitions and thermal behavior of AN have been studied. The effects of hydrazodicarbonamide, 2,4-dinitrophenoxy ethanol, 5,5-dimethyl hydantoin, nano-MWCNT-COOH and activated carbon with cellulose acetate have been investigated on the thermal behavior and phase transitions of AN by simultaneous thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry (TGA-DSC). The results showed that 5,5-dimethyl hydantoin, nanoparticles and activated carbon with cellulose acetate can stabilize AN by removing the AN_IV↔AN_III  and AN_III ↔AN_II phase transitions.