Investigating the Effects of some Additives on the Phase Transition and Thermal Behavior of Ammonium Nitrate

Ammonium nitrate (AN) is widely used in fertilizers, civilian explosives and military explosives. Due to crystalline phase transitions and density changes of AN at ambient conditions, its usage as oxidizer in solid propellants has some limitations 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 on the thermal behavior and phase transitions of AN have been investigated 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 ANIV ↔ANIII and ANIII ↔ANII phase transitions.