Click here to view fulltext PDF

Permanent link:
https://www.ias.ac.in/article/fulltext/jcsc/128/05/0695-0705

Ab initio molecular dynamics; Pentaerythritol tetranitrate; 5-Nitro-2,4-dihydro-1,2,4-triazole-3- one; Initiation decomposition mechanism; high temperature; high pressure

Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations were performed to study the initiation of decompositionand formation of first products of two molecular crystals pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) and 5-nitro-2,4-dihydro-1,2,4-triazole-3-one (NTO) under thermal decomposition temperature (475 K for PETN and 531 Kfor NTO) coupled with different pressures (1-5 GPa). The pressure effects on the initial decomposition stepsand initially generated products on PETN and NTO were very different. PETN was triggered by C-H... O intermolecular hydrogen transfer. The initial decomposition mechanism was independent of the pressure. ForNTO, two different initial decomposition mechanisms were found. At 1, 2, and 3 GPa, it was triggered by NH....O intermolecular hydrogen transfer, while at 4 and 5 GPa, it was triggered by N-H.....N intermolecularhydrogen transfer. This indicates that the initial decomposition mechanism was dependent on the pressure.Our study may provide new insights into initial mechanisms and decomposition reactions of molecular crystalexplosives under thermal decomposition temperature coupled with different pressures with details at atomiclevel.

QIONG WU^{1 2} DONG XIANG¹ GUOLIN XIONG¹ WEIHUA ZHU¹ HEMING XIAO¹

1. Institute for Computation in Molecular and Materials Science and Department of Chemistry, School of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China
2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Institute of Technology, Nanjing 211167, China

Manuscript received

12 December 2015

Manuscript revised

26 January 2016

Accepted

24 February 2016