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Multiphase growth during crystallization severely affects deliverable output of explosive materials. Appearance and incomplete transformation of metastable phases are a major source of polymorphic impurities. This article presents a methodical and molecular level understanding of the metastable phase transformation mechanism during crystallization of cyclic nitramine explosives, viz. RDX, HMX and CL-20. Instantaneous reverse precipitation yielded metastable γ-HMX and β-CL-20 which undergo solution mediated transformation to the respective thermodynamic forms, β-HMX and ε-CL-20, following 'Ostwald's rule of stages'. However, no metastable phase, anticipated as β-RDX, was evidenced during precipitation of RDX, which rather directly yielded the thermodynamically stable α-phase. The γ→β-HMX and β→ε-CL-20 transformations took 20 and 60 minutes respectively, whereas formation of α-RDX was instantaneous. Density functional calculations were employed to identify the possible transition state conformations and to obtain activation barriers for transformations at wB97XD/6-311++G(d,p)(IEFPCM)//B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) level of theory. The computed activation barriers and lattice energies responsible for transformation of RDX, HMX and CL-20 metastable phases to thermodynamic ones conspicuously supported the experimentally observed order of phase stability. This precise result facilitated an understanding of the occurrence of a relatively more sensitive and less dense β-CL-20 phase in TNT based melt-cast explosive compositions, a persistent and critical problem unanswered in the literature. The crystalline material recovered from such compositions revealed a mixture of β- and ε-CL-20. However, similar compositions of RDX and HMX never showed any metastable phase. The relatively long stability with the highest activation barrier is believed to restrict complete β→ε-CL-20 transformation during processing. Therefore a method is suggested to overcome this issue.

This article presents the evidence of possible route to the formation of ε-and α-polymorphic phases of 2, 4,6,8,10,4,6,8,10, studied through CL-20 solution using reverse and normal precipitation method. Reverse precipitation with instant addition facilitated with the opportunity to track the crystal phases from their immediate formation to end of phase stabilization. Precipitation under apparent conditions to achieve α-or ε-phases, showed initial occurrence of metastable β-phase and subsequent transformation to the intended stable phases. The β-phase showed sufficiently longer stability while under specified conditions for ε-than in a hydrated medium set to obtain the α-phase.Transformation of fine needle shaped β-CL-20 crystals to uniform diamond shaped α-or bipyramidal ε-habit had been observed to pass through an equilibrium state of dissolution and reprecipitation. This work also elaborates the effect of crystallization methodology on conversion time. Vibrational spectroscopy and microscopic techniques were employed to track the time dependent polymorphic conversions. Drastic reduction in β → ε conversion time, from 160 minutes to 10 minutes could have been affected by using ultra dispersed seed crystals. We thus also demonstrated a hazard free non-grinding method to prepare ε-CL-20 with particle size <10 µm through precipitation and their effect on thermal stability & mechanical sensitivity.

, et al. studied the crystal quality of ε-CL-20 obtained from different precursors and solvent systems.In the present study, it is focused to prepare and characterisation by both solvent evaporation and precipitation methods. The present evaporation method also relates for obtaining agglomeration free fine ε-CL-20 crystals by in-situ use of ultrasound to crystallisation solution. The obtained crystals were characterised using HPLC, FTIR, Raman, Powder XRD, SEM and DSC techniques. Particle size measurement of obtained ε-CL-20 was carried out using particle size analyser and true density by Helium gas pycnometer. EXPERIMENTAL WORKRaw CL-20 sample was obtained from Premier Explosive's Laboratories, India. All the solvents and allied chemicals used for the processes are of analytical grade with > 99 % purity. ε-CL-20 is prepared using both solvent evaporation and precipitation techniques. Raw CL-20 is dissolved in ethyl acetate solvent and then antisolvent, n-heptane is added into the solution to induce the crystallisation. For the effective recovery in the drowning-out crystallisation, the fraction of raw CL-20, ethyl acetate and n-heptane was applied as about from 1 : 15 : 35, AbSTRACT ε-CL-20 is prepared from raw CL-20 by solvent evaporation and precipitation methods. Experiments were also done using solvent evaporation coupled with in-situ ultrasonication method. Using precipitation method, ε-CL-20 is scaled up to 500 g batch. Raw CL-20 was assigned to α-CL-20. The chemical and polymorphic purity of prepared ε-CL-20 was found to be about 98 per cent and > 95 per cent, respectively. ε-CL-20 was obtained agglomeration free with well defined geometry in comparison with raw CL-20 and its crystal morphology is dominantly bi-pyramidal or lozenge crystal shapes. The obtained mean particle size of prepared ε-CL-20 by solvent evaporation method with and without in-situ ultrasonication and also by precipitation methods is about 30 µm -40 µm, 150 µm -200 µm and 150 µm -300 µm, respectively. The measured true density of prepared ε-CL-20 by precipitation method with 100 g and 500 g batch scale using Helium gas pycnometer was 2.038 g/cm 3 and 2.043 g/cm 3 , respectively. The lower value of calculated void percentage of ε-CL-20 (0.05-0.29%) indicate better crystal quality. Conclusively, prepared ε-CL20 has high true density with less percentage of voids, less total moisture content and free from agglomeration as compared with the starting raw CL-20 material.

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