Temperature and spatially resolved investigations of the microstructure of gun propellants by means of x-ray diffraction

X-ray diffraction provides a non-destructive characterization method for amorphous and semi-crystalline energetic composite materials, such as PBX, rocket and gun propellants. It was applied for thermal and spatially resolved analysis to various double and triple base gun propellants and an energetic binder. The investigations revealed details of the microstructures related to hard blocks of energetic thermoplastic elastomers (ETPEs), gun propellants with nearly temperature dependent burning behavior, and structure gradients in propellant grains, which might modify the burning behavior.