Comparative Analysis of Stable Decomposition and Combustion Kinetics of Nitrated Cellulose

Nitrated cellulose (NC) is highly susceptible to thermal runaway such as combustion or explosion during decomposition. Preventing and mitigating the related accidents require more comprehensive analysis of its thermal stability and chemical decomposition kinetics. To understand the effect of combustion on the decomposition mechanism of NC, it is necessary to compare the kinetics in stable decomposition and combustion. In this study, multiple kinetic analyses including model-free and master-plots approaches were used to determine the kinetic parameters and kinetic model of NC in these two cases. The average activation energy ( E ) was found to be lower in combustion than that in stable decomposition (89.5–97.5 vs . 123.3–145.8 kJ mol −1 ). The stable decomposition kinetics fits the sigmoidal model, while the combustion kinetics fits the deceleration model. From the compensation effect, the pre-exponential factor was calculated to be 19.0–67.2 ln s −1 for stable decomposition and 12.9–26.1 ln s −1 for combustion. This study provides a new perspective on the methods to determine the compensation effect and expands the research scenarios of thermochemical kinetics.