1468 AIAA JOURNAL VOL. 6, NO.

Thermal Decomposition and Combustion of Nitrocellulose

L. DAUERMAN* AND Y. A. TAJIMA|
New York University, Bronx, N.Y.

The volatiles from the thermal decomposition and combustion of nitrocellulose were
analyzed continuously by coupling a rapid-scanning mass spectrometer to a strand burner.
The strand burner was operated at low pressure, 10 torr, in a helium atmosphere to prevent gas
phase reactions. The predominant oxide of nitrogen observed is nitric oxide.

Introduction rolysis of nitrocellulose in solution and found an activation

energy of 43.0 kcal/mole which was 3.5 kcal/mole less than
T HE derivation of a realistic theory of combustion and the the value for the solid. This value is in very good agreement
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understanding of the aging of nitrocellulose depend upon with the value reported by Phillips, Orlich, and Steinberg4
an adequate knowledge of the kinetic mechanism of thermal
over the temperature range of 140-190°C; the sample prob-
decomposition. This paper is directed towards understand-
ably liquefied during pyrolysis. However, Merzhanov7 re-
ing the initial bond-breaking step and how this results in the ported the activation energy to be 35-37 kcal/mole for both
distribution of products observed under different experimental polyvinyl-nitrate and nitrostarch, two other solid nitrates.
conditions. Hence, the activation energy for the decomposition of nitro-
Schuyler1 has proposed a mechanism for the pyrolysis of
cellulose appears to be significantly higher than the accepted
nitrocellulose that is essentially the same as that presented
value for the dissociation energy of the ester bond, CO—
earlier by Shafizadeh and Wolf rom2 and by Gelernter et al.3
N02. Since the activation energies do not substantiate the
It was assumed that the initial step involved the scission of
CO—N02 bond scission hypothesis, another deduction is
the CO—N02 bond as "it is the weakest bond in nitrocellu-
that only N02 should be found as the primary oxide of nitro-
lose." If N02 split off from a nitrate ester group attached to
gen under low pressure conditions, because the N02 will dif-
a secondary carbon atom, then glyoxal and N02 were assumed
fuse away rather than react.
to be the primary products. If scission of a nitrate ester
Robertson and Napper8 using the Will test procedure col-
group attached to a primary carbon atom occurred, then the
lected the gases given off during controlled pyrolysis of
primary products were assumed to be formaldehyde and
nitrocellulose. They found a mixture of NO and N02.
N02. This scheme is the same as that advanced by Wolf rom.
Gelernter3 found a mixture of N02 and NO in a similar
Consistent with the experimental findings of Phillips, Orlich,
experimental technique.
and Steinberg,4 it was assumed that loss of N02 led to the in-
Tranchant9 investigated the stability of nitrocellulose in
termediate formation of a carbonyl group on the nitrocellulose
open tubes and in vacuo. N02 was found only in the open
residue. However, formic acid, C02, CO, and NO were also
tube runs. C02, CO, H20, NO, N20, and N2 were found in
isolated as products in addition to glyoxal and formaldehyde.
the vacuum runs. Tranchant concluded that N02 was not a
It was assumed that these products resulted from oxidation of
primary product but appeared in the open tube experiments
formaldehyde and glyoxal by N02 in the vapor phase.
due to the oxidation of NO by air. In addition, Heller and
A number of independent investigators have derived values
Gordon10 probed the dark zone of a simple, double-base pro-
for the parameters of the Arrhenius equation. The reported
pellant, electrically heated in an inert atmosphere, and did
values of A and Ef the pre-exponential factor and activation
not find N02.
energy, respectively, for the first-order thermal decom-
Klein11 investigated the thermal decomposition of nitro-
position, are tabulated in Table 1. The agreement among
cellulose tagged with I18 in the —N02 part of the nitrate es-
the values determined by the different experimental tech-
ter group. The decomposition was carried out at 155°C in a
niques is very good. It is noteworthy that activation energy
stream of argon held at 1 torr to prevent secondary gas phase
lies within the range of 43-46 kcal.
reactions between the primary products. Klein concluded
The dissociation energy of the CO—NO2 bond is 36.4 to
that an intramolecular complex must be formed initially dur-
39.5 kcal5 determined experimentally from the kinetics of
ing the decomposition of nitrocellulose such that the oxygen
thermal decomposition of simple nitrate esters in the vapor
atoms in CO and in N02 of the nitrato group CONO must be
phase. Smith6 thought that the difference between the
equivalent. Hence, the —N02 of the nitrate ester group and
activation energies for the pyrolysis of nitrocellulose and that
the residue of nitrocellulose must react either in the initial or
of the simple nitrate esters might be because the former was
second step of the decomposition mechanism.
pyrolyzed in the solid state. He measured the rate of py-
The purpose of this study was to investigate the volatiles
Received November 21, 1967; revision received March 11, from nitrocellulose heated by radiant energy from an arc
1968. This investigation was supported by the Army Materials image furnace in a stream of helium at 10-torr pressure.
Command under Contract DZ-30-069-AMC-122(A). The mass The volatiles were continuously analyzed in a rapid-scanning
spectrometer was constructed in part by support provided by the mass spectrometer.
Propulsion Division, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, un-
der Contract AF 49(638)-173. The authors wish to acknowledge Experimental
the valuable assistance of G. E. Salser in carrying out the experi-
mental part of this research and that of E. R. Alien in the reduc- The reactions occurring in the surface reaction zone of
tion of reels of data. nitrocellulose and nitrocellulose pretreated with N02 were
* Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering.
Member AIAA. studied by igniting strands in a low-pressure strand burner
t Research Scientist, Department of Chemical Engineering; that was mounted adjacent to the ion source of a mass spec-
now Supervisor, Advanced Propellant Technology, Lockheed trometer. The apparatus and mass spectrometer have been
Propulsion Company, Redlands, Calif. described elsewhere.12 Briefly, the strand is mounted in a
 AUGUST 1968 DECOMPOSITION AND COMBUSTION OF NITROCELLULOSE 1469

Table 1 Kinetic parameters for the thermal decomposition of nitrocellulose

First-order Temperature
Reported by decomposition Autocatalysis range Method Ref.
A, see" 1 E, kcal/mole A, sec"-1 Ef kcal/mole °C
Will 1019-30 46.2 135 Flowing CO2 15
(Will test)
Wilfong, Penner, and 46.7 84-162 Flowing N2 16
Daniels
Smith 1018 43.0 Solution 6
Phillips, Orlich, and 1018-36 44.3 ± 1.7 140-190 IR spectrometry, 4
Steinberg 1-2 torr
Phillips, Orlich, and 1018-95 43.7 ± 2.1 140-190 TGA, vacuum 4
Steinberg
Dubovitsky et al. 1019 47.0 1012 31.0 140-165 TGA 17
Millett, Seborg, Zoch, 30 . 7 90-140 Taliani, air 18
and Masuelli 37.6 90-140 Taliani, N2
Hicks, ethyl nitrate I020-6a 38.0 1015 22.5 =b 2.5 740-840 220-torr flame 19
<740 220-torr flame
Adams and Wiseman, 22-25 1 0-60-torr flame 20
methyl nitrate
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1
Slater theory of unimolecular reactions, unit is cm3/mole/seq.
' E required by combustion model of Parr and Crawford10 is 20 kcal/mole; E required by combustion model of Rice and Ginell11 is 16 kcal/mole.

vertical position resting against a 5-mil chromel-alumel ther-
mocouple by means of which the temperature-time profiles
are recorded. The strand is ignited by exposure to the radia-
tion of an arc-image furnace. Gaseous decomposition products
are monitored continuously by means of the fast-scanning
spectrometer.
Experimental Results
Since autocatalysis is the mechanism of decomposition in
the long-term aging of double-base propellants containing
nitrocellulose and may also be important during combustion,
catalysis by N02 was also included in the present study.
N02 is known to be absorbed strongly by nitrocellulose.
Hence, it appeared possible that catalysis could be easily in-
vestigated by a simple pretreatment of nitrocellulose with
N02. Pretreatment consisted of exposing the nitrocellulose
strand to 9.35-torr N02 for 5 min, then flushing out the strand
burner with the carrier gas (argon in helium) until no NO2
could be detected via the mass spectrometer. The experi-
mental data confirmed this expectation. The sample of
nitrocellulose consisted of 96.33% NC (13.15% N), 0.88%
DPA, 2.29% residual ethanol, and 0.50% residual water.
Temperature-Time Profile
Typical temperature-time profile is shown in Fig. 1 for the
two test specimens. No visible activity was observed when
heating started. The temperature climbed rapidly then
tapered off. At some temperature Tp, a swirl of smoke was
seen and firing took place. Moments later at temperature
Ti, ignition occurred and the temperature jumped to Ts, the
surface reaction zone temperature, and then leveled off.
Gassing with spallation occurred, which caused the strand to
pull away from the thermocouple and produce the spike seen
on the temperature-time profile. Pretreating of the sample
with N02 reduced the ignition time by approximately one-
half. T{ was equal to 205° C for both nitrocellulose and the
NO2-pretreated specimens. T8 was equal to 418°C for N02-
pretreated nitrocellulose compared to 440°C for nitrocellulose
itself. The latter value is 100° C higher than the value of Ts
observed for a simple double-base matrix.12
previously for a double-base propellant.13 Three levels of
activity are observed. The prefixing stage corresponds to
temperature less than 'Tp, the firing stage corresponding to
Tp < T < T^ and the postfiring stage corresponding to T >
T^ Mass spectra for the three stages are shown as line graphs
in Fig. 2. The mass spectrum of the postfiring period could
not be analyzed as heavy spallation of the strand occurred,
i.e., useful spectra could not be recorded. The spectra re-
ported here for nitrocellulose are very similar to those re-
ported previously for double-base propellants.13 Mass
peaks 26 and 39 were seen with nitrocellulose, which were not
observed with double-base propellants. The mass spectra
for nitrocellulose were also much more complex in that more
mass fragments were observed above m/e 46. This is un-
doubtedly because nitrocellulose is under oxidized so that
higher molecular weight species are produced which are oxi-
dized to low molecular weight products in the case of the
double-base propellants. In spite of the apparent similarity
of the mass spectra for nitrocellulose and the double-base
propellants, analysis of the former turned out to be much
more difficult.
The spectra have been normalized to the same pressure
(intensity) of the argon tracer. The autocatalysis by N02
is quite evident. In fact, the increase in decomposition rate
due to N02 is much greater than that observed previously
with lead stearate in a double-base formulation.13 Evidently,
Fig. 1 Typical tempera-
ture-time profile of nitro-
cellulose strands. Tp =
preignition (firing) tem-
perature; Ti = ignition
temperature; Ts = sur-
face reaction temperature.

Mass Spectral Analysis

The quality and good readability of the mass spectra re-
corded by this instrument has been described elsewhere.12
The plot of the intensities of the m/e peaks vs time, and
temperature, are quite typical and similar to those described
 1470 L. DAUERMAN AND Y. A. TAJIMA AIAA JOURNAL

MASS SPECTRA
NC-8 PREFIRING NC-8 FIRING NC-8 POST-
FIRING
NITROCELLULOSE

Hill

NC-14 PREFIRING NC-14 FIRI.NG NC-14 POST-

FIRING
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-y1
• vD 00
-*« •* =
«SI 1
MASS PEAKS

Fig. 2 Mass spectra of nitrocellulose during prefiring, firing, and postfiring stages.

N02 is absorbed very strongly by nitrocellulose. Thus, it ap- Residue calculations were carried out on the mass spectra
pears that the conclusion of Klein,11 that N02 per se or as the and are given in Tables 4-7.
nitrato group is complexed in nitrocellulose, is correct. The The mass spectra of nitrocellulose, untreated, can be
m/e 30/46 ratio, Fig. 1, indicates that N02 can not be an im- balanced by a combination of products that have been re-
portant product; this is the case even with absorbed N02. ported from slow thermal decomposition studies. Except
The products expected, based on data reported in the for m/e 15, the residual balance for nitrocellulose prefiring
literature, are listed in Table 2. In addition, the ion species
associated with the observed m/e peaks14 were also considered
Table 3 Mass spectra of nitrocellulose pyrolysis
in the analysis of the mass spectra. The mass spectra shown
in Fig. 2 are tabulated in Table 3. The spectra have been NC-8 NC-14
normalized to the same partial pressure of the argon tracer. Pre- Pre-
Mass firing Firing firing Firing
Table 2 Expected products based on literature
14 7.4 45.0 17.0 58.5
Traces, 15 16.0 75.4 66.0 130
Major, over 10% Minor, 5-10% less than 5% 16 5.3 31.5 9.0 30.5
17 10.0 42.6 16.7 47.5
NO2, Refs. 3, 8 Formic acid, HCN, Ref. 23 18 26.0 125 50.5 141
a a a
HCOOH, Ref. 25
23 26 4.0 43.6 25.5 65^0
NO, Refs. 3, 8, 9, Formaldehyde, N2, Refs. 9,11, 21, 27 15.0 96.5 120 220
11, 21 HCHO, Refs. 3, 22a 28 19.0 128 36.0 136
23 29 37.5 200 204 417
CO, Refs. 3, 9, 11, Glyoxal, (HCO)2, N2O, Refs. 3,9,21* 30 39.5 290 57.5 268
21,22 Ref. 23 31 44.0 207 320 595
CO2, Refs. 3, 9, 11, Acetaldehyde, 32 12.4
21 CH3CHO, Refs. 39 12.7
22,24 41 2.3 20.0 14.3 25.5
H2O, Refs. 3, 9, 22 Acetone, (H3C)2- 42 3.1 15.0
CO, Ref. 24 43 9.0 64.0 26*5 64*0
Acrolein, CH2= 44 16.0 101 24.3 78.0
CHCHO, Ref. 45 18.3 82.5 90.0 170
24 46 7.5 33.2 5.0 22.5
CH4, Refs. 21, 22& 556 3
H2O=CH2, Ref. 57 3 4 2 74
22 58 5 4
CH3OH, Ref. 22 59 34 14 Y 10
CH3CH2OH, Ref. 60 14 7
22C 70 36
Formamide, HC- 74 16 6
ONH2, Ref. 25 86 3
0 a
Vandoni2i reported 13.79% N2O and only 1.89% NO. Present but too small to measure.
b b
Ettre and Varadi22 reported 11-14% CH4. Intensities of m/e 55-86 are on a different scale and can not be com-
c
Wolfrom 24 stated that ethyl alcohol definitely is not a product. pared directly to the intensities of m/e 14-46.
 AUGUST 1968 DECOMPOSITION AND COMBUSTION OF NITROCELLULOSE 1471

Table 4 Residue calculation: NC-8 prefiring

Peak
Mass inten-
peak sity H2O HCOOH HCHO CH4 C2H5OH CH3CHO HCN CO2 CO NO Residue
Factor 0.260 0.066 0.049 0.026 0.440 0.157 0.045 0.043 0.125 0.325
14 7.4 0.21 0.43 1.75 1.71 0.09 2.43 +0.78
15 16.0 2.29 3.34 6.08 +4.29
16 5.3 0.55 0.35 0.08 2.60 0.67 0.41 0.21 0.47 0
17 10.0 7.93 1.13 +0.94
18 26.0 26.00 0.64 0
a
25 0.66 1.09 0.73 (1.30)
26 4.0 3.65 0.67 4.48 -1.47
27 15.0 10.52 0.48 0
28 19.0 1.14 1.50 3.04 15.72 0.35 12.49 0
29 37.5 6.63 4.85 10.30 0
30 39.5 0.11 4.29 2.64 32.46 0
31 44.0 44.00 0
32 0.62 -0.62
39 -
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41 2.3 0.62 0.71 +0.97

42 3.1 1.28 1.73 +0.09
43 9.0 3.34 5.66 0
44 16.0 0.66 0.79 10.24 4.31 0
45 18.3 3.16 15.14 0
46 7.5 4.04 7.26 -3.80
a
Present but too small to measure.

(Table 4) is satisfactory. The residue for m/e 15 is some-
what high and suggests minor to trace amounts of products
that have high contents of methyl groups. The residue cal-
culation for nitrocellulose-firing (Table 5) is also quite satis-
factory except for the relatively high residue of m/e 39. This
suggests the presence of a hydrocarbon product. The combi-
nation of the residues for m/e 15 and m/e 39 may be due to a
highly branched hydrocarbon species that was not identified.
It also appears that acetic acid may be a product. This
compound has not been reported previously. However, it is
not surprising and may be a product obtained in the oxidation
of ethyl alcohol and acetaldehyde, respectively. The sig-
nificant finding is that nitric oxide is the predominant species
rather than nitrogen dioxide. This is evident even without
the residue calculations. Thus, the ratio of m/e 30/46 is
100/37 for NO2; the observed ratios are 100/19 for nitro-
cellulose prefiring and 100/11 for nitrocellulose firing. In the
residue calculations, the residues were best minimized by
considering that N02 was totally absent.
Oxidation appears to have progressed further in the case
of N02-pretreated nitrocellulose. This is not surprising as
the oxidizer/fuel ratio is higher due to the absorbed N02.
However, good residue balances could not be obtained for
the N02-pretreated nitrocellulose, Tables 6 and 7. It appears
that the missing product (or possibly products) is the same
for both the prefiring and firing stages. Mass-by-mass
analysis was performed on the residue. The res'due was
found to be very similar to the mass spectrum of ethyl for-
mate. However, m/e 28 can not be matched, and the rela-
tive intensity of m/e 15 is too high by a factor of 2. The
residue has not been identified. As in the former case, nitric
oxide rather than nitrogen dioxide is the predominant species.
The m/e 30/46 ratio is 100/87 for both the prefiring and firing
stages.
Discussion
The predominance of nitric oxide as the volatilized species
indicates that N02 reacts very rapidly in the thermal zone of
nitrocellulose if it is indeed formed initially by the rupture of
the CO—N02 bond. It is not likely that N02 could have
evolved and reacted in the vapor phase under the experi-
mental conditions employed, viz., total gas pressure of 10
torr and temperatures less than 205° C.

Table 5 Residue calculation: NC-8 firing

Peak CH2=
Mass inten- HC- CH3- CH- CH3- HC-
peak sity H20 OOH HCHO CH4 C2H5OH CHsOH CHO CHO COOH ONH 2 CH3CN HCN C02 CO NO Residue
Factor 1.25 0.023 0.534 0.117 1 .930 0.137 0 .855 0.055 0 .132 0.041 0.128 0.398 0.396 0.816 2.301

14 45.0 2.35 1.87 7.,68 0.88 9 .32 0.21 2 .89 0.23 0.44 0.84 17.22 +1.07
15 75.4 10.06 14..64 4.75 33.,11 7. 40 0.34 1.42 + 3.68
16 31.5 2.63 0.12 0.41 11.70 3..65 1..04 2.76 0.29 3.72 1.36 3.34 0
17 42.6 38.13 0.39 0..69 4.08 -0.69
18 125 125 1.07 - 1 . 07)
a 2 .89 3 .47 0.50 0 .22 0.36
25 (8.44
26 32.6 16 .01 5..95 3.23 0 .19 0.25 0.49 6.49 0
27 96.5 46 .10 3..64 5.50 1.24 0.27 39 . 80 0
28 128 0.40 16.50 13 .31 1 . 52 2 .60
. 2 . 89 0 . 74 1.73 3.43 3.24 81.60 0
29 200 2.30 53.40 45,,13 7.85 85,.55 2.15 2..18 1.46 0
30 290 0.04 47.25 11 .57 1.06 230.10 0
31 207 192 .88 13.70 0,.65 -0.27
32 12.4 2,.70 9.70 0
39 12.7 2.50 + 10.20
41 20.0 2 .70 3..84 0. 64 12.82 0
42 15.0 5 .59 9,.41 2,.06 -2.06
43 64.0 14 .70 30..80 13,,20 0.86 3.44
44 101.0 0.23 3,.47 55. 69 0. 65 1.39 39.60 0
45 82.5 1.09 66.,35 11. 91 2.65 0
46 33.2 1.40 31.,80 0
a
Present but too small to measure.
 1472 L. DAUERMAN AND Y. A. TAJIMA AIAA JOURNAL

Table 6 Residue calculation: NC-14 prefiring

Mass
peak, Peak Mass Ethyl6
m/e intensity KUO C2H5OH HCOOH H2CO NO C02 CO CH3CHO Residue spectrum Formate
Factor 0 . 505 0.303 0.076 None 0.556 0.230 0.309 None Unknown
14 17.0 1.20 4.16 +11.64 4.0 6.6
15 66.0 2.30 + 63.70 22.0 13.9
16 9.0 1.06 0.39 0.81 2.16 0.52 +4.06 1.4 1.2
17 16.7 15.4 1.30 0 0.6
18 50.5 50.5 0 0.9
a
25 0.45 (-0.45) 1.7
26 25.5 2.52 +22.98 7.9 13.0
27 120 7.24 + 112.76 38.9 44.0
28 36.0 2.09 1.31 1.88 30.88 -0.16 77.0
29 204 7.09 7.61 + 189.3 65.3 69.0
30 57.5 1.82 0.13 55 . 55 0 8.3
31 320 30.30 +289.7 100 100
32 - .. 0.42 (-0.42) 4.0
39 0
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41 14.3 0.42 + 13.88 4.8

42 0.88 (-0.88)
43 26.5 2.30 +24.20 8.4
44 24.3 0.55 0.76 22.99 0
45 90.0 10.42 3.62 + 75.96 26.2 28.0
46 5.0 5.0 4.63 -4.63
60 2.7
74 1.7
a
Pressent but too small to measure.
Relative intensity of 4.1 at m/e = 19.

Table 7 Residue calculation: NC-14 firing

Mass
peak, Peak Mass Ethyl"
m/e intensity H2O C2H5OH HCOOH H2CO NO CO2 CO CH3CHO Residue spectrum formate
Factor 1.41 1.36 0.263 None 2.60 0.729 1.16 None Unknown
14 58.5 5.43 19.43 +33.64 7.3 6.6
15 130 10.35 + 119.65 26.1 13.9
16 30.5 2.96 1.36 3.77 6.85 1.94 +13.62 3.0 1.2
17 47.5 43.01 4.49 0 0.6
18 141 141 0 0.9
25 2.05 (-2.05) 1.7
26 65.0 11.32 +53.65 11.7 13.0
27 220 32.59 + 187.41 40.9 44.0
28 136 9.41 4.57 5.96 116.06 0 77.0
29 417 31.91 26.27 + 358.82 78.2 69.0
30 268 8.18 0.43 259.82 -0.43 8.3
31 595 136.36 +458.64 100 100
32 1.91 (-1.91) 4.0
39
41 25.5 1.91 +23.59 5.1
42 3.95 (-3.95)
43 64.0 10.36 + 53.64 11.7
44 78.0 2.45 2.62 72.93 0
45 170 46.91 12.51 + 110.58 24.1 28.0
46 22.5 22.5 16.00 -16.0
60 2.7
74 1.7
a
Relative intensity of 4.1 at m/e = 19.

The data presented here are in agreement with the conclusion
of Klein.11 N02 is complexed as the nitrato group (CON02)
or complexed immediately as it is formed when nitrocellulose
is heated, and then reacts very rapidly leading to the forma-
tion of highly oxidized species such as H20, CO, C02, and
carbonyl and acidic intermediates. Complexing of N02 as
the nitrato group may account for the additional 9 kcal/mole
of activation energy compared to the activation energy for
the thermal decomposition of simple nitrate esters.
It has been suggested by the reviewers of this paper that
the failure to observe N02 as the predominant species does not
necessarily mean that the initial step is not a CO—N02 bond
scission. Their argument is that the N02 formed would
initially dissolve in the nitrocellulose, and oxidation processes
leading to the reduction product NO would take place in the
condensed phase.
References
1
Schuyler, F. L., "Analytical Investigation of Combustion
Instability in Solid Propellant Rockets," Final Rept. A6002,
July 1963, ITT Research Institute, Technology Center, Chicago,
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2
Shafizadeh, F. and Wolfrom, M. L., "The Controlled Ther-
mal Decomposition of Cellulose Nitrate. IV. C14-Tracer Ex-
periments," Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 80,
1958, pp. 1675-1677.
 AUGUST 1968 DECOMPOSITION AND COMBUSTION OF NITROCELLULOSE
3 14
Gelernter, G. et al., "The Slow Thermal Decomposition of
Cellulose Nitrate," Journal of Physical Chemistry, Vol. 60, 1956,
pp. 1260-1264.
4 15
Phillips, R. W., Orlich, C. A., and Steinberger, R., "The
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5
Kerr, J. A., "Bond Dissociation Energies by Kinetic Meth-
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6 17
Smith, R. D., "Pyrolysis of Dissolved Nitrocellulose,"
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7
Merzhanov, A. G., "Thermal Explosion and Ignition as a
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8
Robertson, R. and Napper, S. S., "LXXI. The Evolution
of Nitrogen Peroxide in the Decomposition of Guncotton,"
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Journal of the Chemical Society, Vol. 91, 1907, pp. 764-786.
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Tranchant, J., "Chemical and Physio chemical Properties of
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10
Heller, C. A. and Gordon, A. S., "Structure of the Gas Phase
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11
Klein, R. et al., "Determination of the Thermal Structure of
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Study of the Thermal Decomposition of Nitrocellulose," Rept.
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12
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13
Dauerman, L. and Tajima, Y. A., "Solid-Phase Reactions
of a Double-Base Propellant," to be published.
1473
McLafferty, F. W., Mass Spectral Correlations: Advances in
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