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 N₂, N₂O, NH₃ and H₂O were the main products during the decomposition process. The kinetic parameters (Ea = 138.96 kJ mol⁻¹ and A = 10^12.93s⁻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 d α/ d T= (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.