Material stability studies by means of temperature and pressure resolved X-ray diffraction

The thermal and long-term stability of energetic materials (EMs) is of particular importance and interest. Before they fulfill their intended task, EMs are stored under various conditions, sometimes for years. For safety reasons unintended ignition needs to be avoided and on the other hand their performance must be preserved. Beside the long-established stability studies of energetic materials at Fraunhofer ICT with X-ray diffraction, there is now a new device available. With the high temperature and high-pressure chamber HPC 900 from Anton Paar it is possible to conduct in-situ X-ray diffraction measurements to analyze structural changes of EMs under various gases, temperatures and/ or pressures. As a starting point temperature and gas pressure resolved X-ray diffraction measurements of ammonium dinitramide under nitrogen atmosphere have been performed.