RDX crystals with high sphericity prepared by resonance acoustic mixing assisted solvent etching technology

Abstract

In order to obtain high-quality spherical RDX crystal particles, the RDX crystals were suspended in a mixed solvent of cyclohexanone and cyclohexane, subsequently a solvent etching study was carried out under the action of vibration/acoustic flow coupled flow field, which generated by resonance acoustic mixing. The effects of solvent ratio, temperature, acceleration and experiment time on morphology as well as particle size of RDX crystals were studied. Not only were the morphology, particle size distribution and crystal form of RDX crystals determined, but also the thermal decomposition performance and mechanical sensitivity of spherical RDX were examined and discussed. Results indicated that under the process of solvent/non-solvent volume ratio at 1:2, temperature of 40°C, acceleration of 40 g and experiment time of 4 h, α-type RDX crystal with sphericity of 0.92 can be obtained. Furthermore, the median particle size (D50) of spherical RDX crystals is 215.8 μm with a unimodal particle size distribution (size span 1.34). For one thing, the thermal decomposition peak temperature of spherical RDX is about 2.5°C higher than that of raw RDX, and apparent activation energy reaches 444.68 kJ/mol. For another thing, impact sensitivity and friction sensitivity of spherical RDX are 18.18% and 33.33% lower than that of raw RDX, respectively. It demonstrates that safety of spherical RDX under thermal, impact and friction stimuli has been improved.

Keywords

• Resonance acoustic mixing
• Solvent etching
• RDX
• Sphericial explosive