Strategy for improving the energy output efficiency of TKX-50: introduction of nitroamine explosives

TKX-50 has attracted the attention of many researchers because of its low sensitivity and high energy characteristics. However, the experimental results show that there is a big gap between the energy level of TKX-50 and the theoretical value. Introducing nitroamine explosives RDX or HMX to stimulate the energy release of TKX-50 is of great significance for improving the energy release efficiency of TKX-50 and expanding its application in the field of energetic materials. In this paper, the properties of different TKX-50/RDX and TKX-50/HMX samples were investigated by thermal analysis and ignition combustion experiments. The results show that RDX has a more obvious catalytic effect on TKX-50. Adding 50% RDX reduces the peak thermal decomposition temperature of TKX-50 from 241.7°C to 218.7°C. At the same time, the flame propagation, maximum combustion pressure, and the pressurization rate of different samples during combustion were analyzed, and the reaction mechanism between RDX (or HMX) with TKX-50 was obtained. Because of the different catalytic effects of RDX and HMX on TKX-50, a strategy was proposed to construct the core-shell structure of TKX-50 to improve the reaction characteristics and energy release efficiency of TKX-50.