An environmental-friendly gas generator with low water vapor

Gas generators are the functional materials producing gas by combustion. In situations such as pneumatics, fire extinguishing bomb, air bag, deep-water salvage, the gas generators can be ignited to provide power and energy through rapid release of gas. However, the research about gas generators with low water vapor is blank in world. The most widely used gas generators (such as nitroguanidine gas generators) produce a lot of water vapor through combustion, whose liquefaction will cause the reduction of gas pressure. This work selected 4,5-diazolyl-1,2,3-triazole (BTTZ) as gas-generating material. Two kinds of gas generator formulations based on BTTZ with common oxometallate (KNO₃) and metal oxide (CuO) were designed. The properties of these gas generator formulations were studied by calculation and experiments. The gas production, gas production rate, water vapor content, compatibility and mechanical sensitivity were measured. The gas specific volume of the formulation 1 was 4.08 m³ kg⁻¹. The clean harmless gas content reaches 93.55%. The water vapor content of the product was 6.08% (volume percentage), which is much lower than the nitroguanidine gas generators (53.47%). Therefore, formulation 1 is a low-water vapor environmental-friendly gas generator as a cleaner production material with practical value.