Investigation of Physical and Chemical Properties of TNT after Spray Drying

Abstract

2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT) is a common insensitive energetic material for a variety of applications. Previous studies on TNT have revealed a complex nature of the material in terms of physical and chemical properties. We demonstrate the use of recrystallization and spray drying of TNT to produce a unique particle morphology with high purity and investigate important changes in the physical and chemical properties. We observed that spray drying of TNT fully isolated the less stable orthorhombic crystalline phase, following Ostwald’s rule of stages, due to the fast precipitation time and elevated temperature of the process. We also showed that spray drying removes some of the low-boiling point synthesis impurities from crude TNT. However, recrystallization in solution prior to spray drying was necessary to produce a high purity TNT after spray drying.