INSIGHTS FROM DIFFERENTIAL SCANNING CALORIMETRY AND CYCLIC VOLTAMMETRY ANALYSES: STUDIES OF THE SYNERGISTIC EFFECT OF TWO DIFFERENT METALLOCENES ON THE MAIN OXIDIZING AGENT FOR SOLID ROCKET MOTOR

• Published in: Journal of the Chilean Chemical Society Vol. 68; no. 2; pp. 5853 - 5856
• Main Authors: Dibdalli, Yuvaraja, Gaete, José, Osorio-Gutierrez, Claudio, Costa, David Moreno da, Morales-Verdejo, Cesar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedad Chilena de Química 01.06.2023
• Subjects: CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY; Burning Rate Catalysis; cyclic voltammetry; Composite Solid Propellant; Thermal decomposition
• DOI: 10.4067/s0717-97072023000205853
• ISSN: 0717-9707

ABSTRACT To understand the synergistic catalytic effect on the thermal degradation of Ammonium Perchlorate (AP) when the metal fragments are in the same molecule or not, we compared three reported compounds: [(Cp*)2Ni] (1), [(Cp*)2Ru] (2), and [Cp*Ni-s-Ic’-RuCp*] (3), as potential burning rate catalysts. We conducted a differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis of compound (3), which showed an increase in the high-temperature decomposition (HTD) of AP to 418 °C and a decrease in the energy release to 938 J·g-1. These results were compared to those of the different metallocenes, namely (1) (HTD: 434 °C and 1300 J·g-1), (2) (HTD: 361 °C and 1828 J·g-1), and the mixture of (1+2) (HTD: 354 °C and 2054 J·g-1). Our results suggest that the mixture of metallocenes is a suitable and competitive alternative to be used as an enhancer of solid composite propellants. In addition, cyclic voltammetry is used to investigate the electrochemical processes of compounds (1), (2), and (3). The electrochemically active species exhibit noteworthy oxidation peaks, revealing electronic communication between the three different compounds in the cases of (1), (2), and (3), as evidenced by the results obtained from the analysis.