Facile Grinding Method for Preparing Nano-Cu-Cr-Fe Composite Metal Oxides with Enhanced Catalytic Activity for Thermal Decomposition of Ammonium Perchlorate

ABSTRACT

Ammonium perchlorate (AP) is a commonly used oxidant for solid propellants, and improving the thermal decomposition performance of AP has been the focus of research, as its thermal decomposition performance directly affects the performance of the propellant. Among a variety of catalysts, nanocomposite metal oxides have demonstrated a significant role in facilitating the thermal decomposition of AP. In this study, Cu-Cr-Fe ternary metal oxides with different molar ratios (5:2:8, 5:4:6, 5:6:4, 5:8:2) were prepared by a facile mechanical grinding method to investigate their catalytic effect on the thermal decomposition properties of AP. The structure and morphology of Cu-Cr-Fe ternary metal oxides were investigated using X-ray diffractometer (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and the catalytic effect of different ternary catalysts on the thermal decomposition performance of AP was also investigated using thermal weight (TG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) techniques. The results show that Cu-Cr-Fe ternary nanocomposite metal oxides with a molar ratio of 5:2:8 prepared by mechanical grinding exhibit excellent catalytic effect on the thermal decomposition of AP, as well as nanometallic oxides (Cu-Cr-Fe = 5:2:8) prepared using the co-precipitation and physical mixing methods. Furthermore, the ternary Cu-Cr-Fe (molar ratio of 5:2:8) composite metal oxide prepared by mechanical grinding resulted in a significant decrease in the thermal decomposition temperature of AP, which decreased from 441.3°C to 352.5°C, the heat of decomposition increased from 941 J/g to 1680 J/g, and the Gibbs free energy of AP decreased from 199.8 kJ/mol to 173.2 kJ/mol. This demonstrates the good synergistic catalytic effect between CuO, Cr₂O₃ and Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles, which is expected to facilitate the application of ternary nanocomposite metal oxides in the field of solid propellants.

Keywords:

• Ammonium perchlorate
• Catalytic activity
• Mechanical grinding method
• Nano-Cu-Cr-Fe
• Thermal decomposition

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 22375098, 21805139, 12102194 and 22005144), the Joint Funds of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U2141202), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 30921011203), the Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST (YESS Program, 2021QNRC001).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00102202.2023.2300263.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [30921011203]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [21805139, 12102194, 22005144]; Joint Funds of the National Natural Science Foundation of China [U2141202]; Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST [2021QNRC001].