Comparative study on compatibility of graphene-based catalysts with energetic ingredients by using DSC and VST methods

To demonstrate the discrepancies of the international standards on compatibility evaluation for energetic additives, a comparative study on compatibility of three typical graphene-based catalysts with common energetic ingredients has been done by using DSC and VST methods. Based on some unusual findings, further suggestions are proposed on improvement in the compatibility evaluation standard. The compatibility results from DSC and VST methods for HMX/GT-Ni, HMX/GC-Cu, AP/GC-Cu, AP/GT-Ni and RDX/GC-Cu systems are contradictory. The major discrepancies between DSC and VST results are caused by combination of contradictory nature of stabilization and catalytic effects of these additives on the corresponding energetic ingredients. It has been shown that the HMX/GC-Ni, HMX/GT-Ni, AP/GT-Ni, NC/GC-Ni, NC/GT-Ni, NC/GT-Cu and NC/GA-Cu mixtures have good compatibility, and the RDX/GC-Ni, AP/GC-Ni and NC/GC-Cu mixtures have moderate compatibility. In general, the copper-based additives even under the stabilization of graphene oxide are not so compatible with nitramine oxidizers and AP. These results indicate that each of the evaluation standards on compatibility has its own feature and limitation. The DSC standard is probably not suitable for the evaluation of the compatibility of GC-Ni, GC-Cu, GT-Ni, GT-Cu and GA-Cu with energetic ingredients. The compatibility assessment cannot simply rely on the available standards, and more comprehensive evaluation procedures need to be established according to the nature of the materials evaluated.