Thermolysis, nonisothermal decomposition kinetics, calculated detonation velocity and safety assessment of dihydroxylammonium 5, 5′-bistetrazole-1, 1′-diolate

Thermal decomposition study of dihydroxylammonium 5,5′-bistetrazole-1,1′-diolate (TKX-50) was investigated by using TG–DTG and TG-IR-MS and found that N 2 , N 2 O, NH 3 and H 2 O were the main products during the decomposition process. The kinetic parameters ( Ea = 138.96 kJ mol −1 and A = 10 12.93 s −1 ) for thermal decomposition reaction of TKX-50 were obtained from DSC profile by differential method and integral method, and the nonisothermal kinetic equation of the exothermic process was dα /dT = (10^12.93 /β )3(1 - α )[ - ln (1 - α )]^2/3exp ( - 1.6713 × 10^4 /T), suggesting that the main exothermic decomposition reaction mechanism of TKX-50 was classified as Avrami–Erofeev equation. In addition, the theoretical detonation velocity ( D = 8804 m/s) of TKX-50 at 298.15 K was calculated by a simple method. Finally, the safety parameters of TKX-50 (25 kg) including time to maximum rate under adiabatic conditions and self-accelerating decomposition temperature were calculated to be 142.12 and 129.01 °C by using AKTS software.