Structure and thermal behavior of TKX-50

The crystal structure and thermal behavior of TKX-50 has been investigated by means of temperature resolved X-ray diffraction. The energetic material is synthesized at the Fraunhofer ICT and its crystal structure was identified using Rietveld-analysis and reported structure data. Monitoring refined crystal data versus temperature revealed a highly anisotropic expansion behavior connected to a layer structure, but no phase transitions were found between -80 °C and 200 °C. Besides, analysis of anisotropic diffraction peaks broadening gives rise to the hypothesis that the layer structure supports a low sensitivity ofTKX-50 without impact to mechanical properties (as found in ADN).