Thin Film Infrared Laser Pyrolysis Studies of Thermal Decomposition Mechanisms in Nitramine Propellants

Thin films of RDX (1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine) have been prepared by vapor deposition onto a 77 K substrate window and pyrolyzed with a pulsed CO2 laser. Each sample is rapidly quenched after the laser pulse by heat conduction into the cold substrate, and the initial reaction products are trapped on the window for examination by transmission FTIR spectroscopy. We have detected N2O4, the dimer of nitrogen dioxide, as an initial condensed phase pyrolysis product, confirming that scission of one of the N-N bonds is the first step in the reaction mechanism. No evidence was found for formation of methylene nitramine via a proposed concerted depolymerization pathway.