The catalytic effect of nano-Al particles on thermal decomposition of RDX, reducing the onset temperature of generating H2O and CO2 (ΔTo < 0).

Molecular dynamic simulation of a high explosive, RDX, mixed with AlH3 nanoparticles was performed by a newly parameterized ReaxFF force field. Testing of the ReaxFF shows that the mean absolute errors of the densities and bond lengths between calculated and experimental values are less than 7% and 3%, respectively. Using the ReaxFF, effects of AlH3 nanoparticles with different radii on the thermal decomposition of RDX were revealed. A new mechanism of the generation and the consumption of H2 was discovered in the explosion. The H2 is released by AlH3 firstly and then it reacts with NO2 and CO2 from the decomposition of RDX, leading to an increase of H2O, NO and CO. Meanwhile, the size effect of AlH3 upon the reaction was also revealed. As a result, the number of produced H2O and CO2 molecules increases by 10.38% and 56.85%, respectively, when the radius of AlH3 nanoparticles decreases from 1.10 to 0.68 nm. This showed that RDX decomposes more completely with smaller AlH3 nanoparticles, which was further demonstrated by the analysis of reaction residues and diffusion coefficients.

The temperature distribution, number of Al–O bonds and hydrogen yield evolution with time.

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