New approaches to the CL-20/HMX cocrystal a less sensitive high power explosive

Understanding the kinetic and thermodynamic of the formation of the 2:1 cocrystal of CL-20 and HMX is a key factor to optimize crystallization procedures in regard to time and material efficiency as well as crystal purity. Here we describe the temperature and polymorph dependency of the solvent-mediated cocrystallization of HMX and CL-20 in 2-propanol as well as the solubility curves of CL-20 and HMX in acetone/2-propanol mixtures and acetonitrile/2-propanol mixtures at room temperature. The formation time of the cocrystal in unseeded solvent-mediated crystallization shows a strong dependency on the temperature and applied CL-20 polymorph. The received CL-20/HMX cocrystal was found to be less friction sensitive, but more impact sensitive than HMX.