EILs - suitable substances for future energetic applications?

Salts being liquid below 100 °C are defined as ionic liquids. They are receiving an increasing interest due to their unique properties and they are also under investigation in the field of energetic materials. Combining nitrogen-rich cations and oxygen-rich anions, it is possible to obtain energetic ionic liquids (EILs). Potential applications are plasticizers, high explosives, gun and rocket propellants. Because of the very low vapor pressure of EILs better storage and handling properties are expected. However, only few work has been done in the field of EILs which show a glass transition temperature less than or equal to -40 °C, the so called low-temperature EILs (LT-EILs). Potential applications and limitations of LT-EILs based on 4-Amino-1-methyl-1,2,4-triazolium nitrate are presented. Some compounds of this class are studied as plasticizers in energetic binder systems (nitrocellulose and glycidyl azide polymer) and are compared to traditional energetic plasticizers like BDNPA/F and TMETN/BTTN.