The activated carbon (AC) doped with CuO (AC-CuO) has been prepared and evaluated as a promising catalyst of energetic compositions. The catalytic activity of AC-CuO on ammonium nitrate/magnesium/nitrocellulose (AN/Mg/NC) composite has been investigated as a typical example. It has been shown that AC-CuO could greatly enhance the decomposition and combustion performances of energetic composites. Thermal analyses indicate that AC-CuO has significant catalytic effects on decomposition of the AN/Mg/NC composite by decreasing the decomposition peak temperature from 261.4 to 209.0 °C, with decreased activation energy from 90.1 to 81.5 kJ mol–1. The linear burning rate of the AN/Mg/NC composite in the presence of AC-CuO increases approximately twice (r b = 20.46 mm s–1 vs r b = 10.27 mm s–1 at a chamber pressure of p 0 = 3.5 MPa).

Ammonium nitrate (AN)-based composite gas generator have attracted a considerable amount of attention because of the clean burning nature of AN as an oxidizer. However, ammonium nitrate-based gas generator has several major problems, namely, poor ignitability, a low burning rate, low energy, and high hygroscopicity. The addition of different transitional metal oxides and MgAl mechanical alloyed proved to be effective in improving the burning characteristics of AN-based gas generator. In this research work, combustion study of different transition metal oxide based on AN/MgAl composites gas generators was studied. Gas generators were combusted at the pressure of 1 MPa, 3 MPa and 5 MPa in the combustion chamber and the burning rates were determined. It was stated that the addition of metal oxides into the composition of the gas generators improves ignition at low pressure and increases the burning rate. The use of the mechanical MgAl alloys as a fuel allowed the ignition of the gas generator at a lower temperature. The method of thermogravimetric/differential thermal analyzer (TG/DTA) was used to investigate the effect of metal oxides addition on the AN/MgAl-based gas generators thermal decomposition characteristics.

The potential for barium sulphate nanoparticles to be used in a variety of important fields has sparked a lot of attention. Methods for obtaining this material by milling (top-down approach) are not very popular due to the difficulty of controlling the size and shape of particles, as well as changes in their physicochemical properties during milling. More promising is the bottom-up approach, which is the interaction of Ba2+ and SO42− ions in a liquid environment. Direct precipitation is the simplest method; however, it does not allow control of the particle size. Microemulsions, microreactors membrane dispersion, as well as spinning disc reactors are used to overcome drawbacks of direct precipitation and allow control of particle size and shape. This is ensured mainly by intensive controlled micromixing of the precursors with concentrations close to saturated ones. The present review focuses on recent advances in the production of barium sulfate nanoparticles using various approaches, as well as their advantages and limitations. The issues of scaling up the techniques are also considered, and promising methods for obtaining BaSO4 nanoparticles are also discussed.

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