Differentiation of stabilized nitrocellulose during artificial aging: Spectroscopy methods coupled with principal component analysis

Abstract

In this work, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) were selected as reliable, fast, and nondestructive techniques to assess their potentialities for characterization and discrimination of nitrocellulose (NC)-based formulations containing different kinds of stabilizers and subjected to accelerated aging. Preliminary results based on visual comparison of the spectra point out that spectra obtained by both spectroscopic techniques were useful for a rapid detection of the aging process without additional sample preparation. Additionally, the existence of compatibility issues between NC and one of the stabilizers is easily recognized. The spectral data were subjected to principal component analysis (PCA) for visualization and to reveal differences between samples. The obtained results demonstrated that PCA plots were able to distinguish and classify the NC samples with respect to their respective stabilizers and aging.

A Promising Energetic Polymer from Posidonia oceanica Brown Algae: Synthesis, Characterization, and Kinetic Modeling

“…According to these results, it can be concluded that the NC2 and MCCN1 synthesized from cellulose and microcrystalline cellulose isolated from marine POBA, respectively, were of high purity, comparable to NC1 prepared from cotton cellulose and MCCN2 produced from C‐MCC. Besides that, it is worthy to note that the FTIR spectra of the produced cellulose nitrate and MCCN are comparable with those reported in the literature …”

“…Moreover, the absorption band at 1430–1380 cm −1 is assigned to the asymmetric and symmetric bending vibration of CH 2 group . Additionally, the bands appeared at 1080, 830, 765, and 685 cm −1 , are related to the stretching vibration of CO group, the nitrate ester (ONO 2 ) stretching vibration, and the asymmetric and symmetric deformations of the ONO 2 group . These absorption bands are associated with the typical characteristics of nitrocellulose molecule already reported .…”

“…Besides these absorption bands, other specific bands can be seen in the right half of all spectra of nitrated samples. The absorption bands at 1650 and 1280 cm −1 are referred to the asymmetric and symmetric elongation vibrations of the NO 2 group . Moreover, the absorption band at 1430–1380 cm −1 is assigned to the asymmetric and symmetric bending vibration of CH 2 group .…”

“…An X'celerator detector was used to collect data over an angular range of 5–40°/2θ with a step size of 0.017°/2θ and a count time of 50.1650 s at each step. The crystallinity index of samples was determined using the following equation where ka is the relative degree of crystallinity, S cr is the total area for the crystalline peaks, and S am is the total area for the amorphous part.…”

“…Nitrogen content is considered as a key factor that influences the features and performance of NC and determines its application . Hence, NC with nitrogen amount lower than 12% is widely employed in the areas of membranes, coating, magnetic filtration, biosensors, and printing; whereas NC with nitrogen amount higher than 12% has received applications in the manufacture of energetic materials such as smokeless powders, solid propellants, and gas generator formulations …”