Compatibility study of erythritol tetranitrate with some energetic materials

The compatibility of erythritol tetranitrate (ETN) with RDX, CL-20, PETN, TNT, HMX, Picric acid was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Two methods for judging the compatibility level of ETN and conventional explosives are introduced. One method is using the decomposition temperature ( T p ) and apparent activation energy ( E o ) of the thermal decomposition curve at the heating rate, the compatibility levels of the two explosives can be obtained. The results show that ETN with RDX have good compatibility, level 1; ETN with HMX, CL-20 are fair compatibility, level 2; ETN with PETN, TNT and Picric acid are poor compatibility, level 3. Another method is when apparent activation energy ( E o ) is not added, the compatibility levels are different when just used the decomposition temperature ( T p ).