Study of decomposition properties of PETN.

Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) powder is a secondary high explosive widely used in military applications, namely as a booster in detonators. PETN powder has a melting temperature of 141° C that is close to the onset of decomposition. The fact that these two main characteristic temperatures so close in value makes the separation of these two processes challenging. We have observed a large hysteresis in melt after bringing a PETN to 145° C through melt and then recrystallizing and remelting. The second melt is broader and at lower temperature than the pristine melt. In this presentation we investigated decomposition of PETN heated to temperatures below melt and held for various lengths of time before taking the sample to 141° C. We use thermal analytical techniques (TG and DSC) to look for any effects of low temperature decomposition on PETN melt.