Standardization on STANAG test methods for ease of compatibility and thermal studies

STANAG is the NATO abbreviation for Standardization Agreement, which sets up processes, procedures, terms and conditions for common military or technical procedures and equipment between the member countries of the alliance. One of the purposes is to provide common operational and administrative procedures. STANAG 4147 (Ed. 2) deals with the 'Chemical Compatibility of ammunition components with explosives'. In this paper it will be shown that by standardizing on methodology, information can be exchanged between laboratories and it will still be applicable for their test equipment. The test procedures in this standard are: 1) vacuum stability test (manometer and pressure transducer), 2) heat flow calorimetry, 3) thermogravimetry (dynamic, isothermal, kinetic decomposition), 4) differential scanning calorimetry and 5) chemical analysis. A case study will show that this methodology can be used in conjunction with 'normal' DSC (in-house) and vacuum stability tests (VST).