Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Centralite 1 and 2 Using High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography Method
Modern propellant, so-called smokeless type, is consisting primarily of nitrated cellulose, but frequently with nitroglycerine as well. Propellant consisting of nitrocellulose (NC) alone is termed single-base propellant, and those powders that contain nitroglycerine besides nitrocellulose are called double-base propellants [1]. Active compounds mainly decompose to nitrogen oxides (NO and NO2) that catalyze and accelerate the decomposition process and may lead to self-heating and auto-ignition. Stabilizers are added to propellants to stop such decomposition, being essential their addition in the propellant’s composition [2]. Powders and propellants must contain one or several additives called stabilizers, the function of which is to prevent chemical change in the energetic constituents over a reasonable period of time [3]. Nitrocellulose based propellants show a slow, but constant decomposition of nitrate ester groups under the formation of nitrogen oxides and nitric acids. These components catalyze the further decomposition of the propellant and may finally lead to an autocatalytic decomposition [4]. The article [5,6] explains the formation of nitric acid and nitric oxide in propellants in details, and the final result of the reactions is an increase in ambient temperature, which could Abstract