An energetic nano-fiber composite based on polystyrene and 1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazinane fabricated via electrospinning technique

Electrospinning is a simple technique used to fabricate polymeric nano-fibrous membranes.These nano-fibers have found a wide range of valuable applications in the biomedical field.However,it has not been utilized with solid high explosives yet.Herein,the electrospinning technique has been used to fabricate polystyrene(PS)/1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazinane(RDX)composite nanofibers.The governed electrospinning parameters,voltage,distance from the collector,flow rate,mandrel rotating speed,time,and solution concentration,that greatly affect the morphology of the obtained nanofibers were optimized.The fabricated PS/RDX nano-fibers were characterized using scanning electron microscopy(SEM),X-ray diffractometer(XRD),and Fourier Transform Infrared(FTIR)spectroscopy.The impact and friction sensitivities of PS/RDX were also measured.The thermal behavior of the prepared composite and the pure materials were studied by the thermal gravimetric analysis technique(TGA).SEM results proved the fabrication of PS/RDX fibers in the nano-size via electrospinning.FTIR spectroscopy confirmed the existence of the characteristic functional groups of both PS and RDX in the composite nano-fibers.XRD sharp peaks showed the conversion of amorphous PS into crystalline shape via electrospinning and also confirmed the formation of PS/RDX composite.The PS fibers absorbed the heat and increased the onset decomposition of the pure RDX from 181.5 to 200.7℃in the case of PS/RDX fibers.Interestingly,PS/RDX nano-fibers showed the relatively low impact and friction sensitivities of 100 J and 360 N respectively.These results could introduce PS/RDX nanofibrous composite in the field of explosives detection with high levels of safety.

Solubility determination and comparison ofβ-HMX and RDX in two binary mixed solvents(acetonitrile+water,nitric acid+water)

In order to remove hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine(RDX),the main impurity,in process of polymorphic transformation of octrahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine(HMX),the solubility ofβ-HMX and RDX in acetonitrile(ACN)+water in the temperature range of 288.15-333.15 K and in nitric acid(HNO_(3))+water in the temperature range of 298.15-333.15 K were measured by laser dynamic method.The results showed that the solubility of bothβ-HMX and RDX in binary mixed solvents increased monotonously as the temperature increase at a given solvent composition or with increasing of mole fraction of solvent(ACN and nitric acid).Solubility data were well correlated by the modified Apelblat equation,Jouyban-Acree model,Yaws equation and van't Hoff equation,and the Yaws equation achieved the best fitting results according to the relative error and the mean square error root.Furthermore,the solubility ofβ-HMX and RDX in binary mixed solvent was compared,based on the solubility difference and the solvent's own properties,the best separation degree ofβ-HMX and RDX was found when the mole fraction of nitric acid was 0.22 at room temperature,which provided data support for HMX crystallization in mixed solvent.The solubility differences between RDX andβ-HMX in mixed solvents were explained from the formation of intermolecular and intramolecular hydrogen bonds.