Foci for Determining the Insensitivity Features of Nanometer RDX: Nanoscale Particle Size and Moderate Thermal Reactivity

In this paper, the reasons why nanometer RDX showed lower sensitivity than micro RDX is discussed. Herein we supposed two factors affect the sensitivity of nanometer RDX. Firstly, according detonation physics models, a nanometer particle size results in small hot spots and a high critical temperature. These features suggested high safety for nanometer RDX based on the hot spot theory. A further factor is the thermal reactivity of nanometer RDX, which considerably affects the safety of nanometer energetic materials. Employing the Kinetic Compensation Effect, we calculated the kinetic parameters of micro and nanometer RDX. The results indicated that there was no obvious distinction between the activation energies of micro and nanometer RDX, which implies almost the same reactivity of micro and nanometer RDX. Incorporating the results of small hot spots, high critical temperature, and the unchanged reactivity of micro and nanometer RDX, we concluded that nanometer RDX should exhibit low sensitivity as an intrinsic feature.