A balanced strategy for energy level, mechanical properties and sensitivity of the gun propellants based on step ladder-structured nitrocellulose

With the development of modern weapons, the requirements are increasing in the high-energy level, good mechanical properties and low sensitivity of gun propellants. However, it seems that these properties contradict each other. For example, the introduction of high-energy ingredients in the gun propellant formulation will decrease its mechanical strength and increase its potential safety risks during the storage and usage of ammunition. A binder with good mechanical properties and low sensitivity can increase the solid content of gun propellants, allowing more high-energy ingredients to be added. Consequently, improving binder performance may be one of important method to solve this problem. In this work, a series of gun propellants based on novel binder step ladder-structured nitrocellulose (LNC) was prepared by a semi-solvent method. Their compatibility. morphology, energy level, sensitivity, thermal behavior and mechanical properties were studied. LNC has extremely good compatibility with NC in the compatibility tests. After the addition of LNC, the energy level of the gun propellants decreases slightly (5.67%), but its sensitivity reduces greatly ( H 50 value increases by 67.27%). Due to the ladder structure and the polyethylene glycol soft segment of LNC, the toughness of the grains has been greatly improved, which might reduce the breaking risk of propellant grains during their burning process. And the introduction of LNC is a feasible strategy to balance the energy level, mechanical properties and sensitivity of gun propellants. This study shows a good prospect of LNC in the research of high-performance gun propellant binders.