Triphenylamine -: a 'new' stabilizer for nitrocellulose based propellants -: Part I:: Chemical stability studies

Triphenylamine (TPA) was used for the first time in France in 1937 as a stabilizer for propellants. The stability of those samples was described as 'good'. Around 1950 an American group produced TPA stabilized propellants and investigated the decomposition mechanism. Apart from one single experiment in the 1970s no further attempts were made to take TPA as a stabilizer for propellants. With the background of an increasingly critical discussion about nitrosamines in propellants and their declaration of being carcinogenic, TPA revealed a renaissance since the year 2000. To achieve the goal of nitrosamine free propellants several TPA stabilized propellants were produced. Their processability, stability and ballistic properties were investigated. This publication summarizes the most important results of stability tests on more than 30 different TPA stabilized propellants including the decomposition mechanism, the synthesis of the consecutive products and their stabilizing properties. In addition, the internal compatibility of TPA with the most important propellant ingredients is discussed and its relative decomposition rate is compared with that of other stabilizers. In summary TPA is a suitable stabilizer for propellants. It has nevertheless two disadvantages: It is relatively rapidly consumed in double base formulations (which makes it difficult to pass the criteria of AOP-48, Ed. 2) and the stabilizing activity of the two major consecutive products 4-NO2-TPA and especially 4,4'-diNO(2)-TPA is low.