Agglomeration of NTO on the surface of HMX particles in water-NMP solvent

A sensitive explosive was coated with a less sensitive explosive in order to improve stability while maintaining explosion performance. Agglomeration of 3-nitro-1,2,4-triazole-5-one (NTO) on the surface of cyclotetramethylene tetranitramine (HMX) crystals in water-N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) solvent was performed by cooling crystallization. Phenomena for coating by crystallization and agglomeration were studied by in-situ measurement. The agglomeration kinetic for the coating of NTO on HMX crystals was correlated with the 3rd power of the solution supersaturation and the 2nd power of the number of the suspended particles. (c) 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.