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.