The Preparation and Rheological Properties of Novel Energetic Composites TEGDN/NBC

Nitrated bacterial cellulose (NBC) has been used to displace nitrocellulose (NC) because of its superior physicochemical properties, such as mechanical strength and purity, compared with NC. To meet the high energy and high strength requirements of propellants, TEGDN/NBC composites were prepared following the designs of triethylene glycol dinitrate (TEGDN) propellant. The basic properties such as structure, morphology and thermal properties were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer (NMR), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT‐IR), X‐ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and simultaneous thermal analysis (TG‐DSC). The rheological properties were measured and the effects of the solvents, solution concentrations and TEGDN Contents on rheological properties of TEGDN/NBC solutions were studied in detail. The results showed TEGDN/NBC composites had good flowability and low viscosity in DMF solvent. As solution concentrations increased, the viscosities of the TEGDN/NBC solutions greatly increased. As the TEGDN content increased, the viscosities, storage modulus and loss modulus firstly increased and then decreased, reached their maximum values when the TEGDN content was 15 wt %. The addition of TEGDN into NBC improved the thermal stability of NBC and the elasticity of the NBC solutions and was beneficial for its processing.