Interpretable machine learning for predicting electric spark sensitivity of energetic compounds via molecular and instrument descriptors
Available online 11 September 2025
Accidental ignition of energetic compounds by electrostatic discharge poses significant safety risks, highlighting the need for precise prediction of electric spark sensitivity. Here we develop a novel...
Synthetic chemistry of energetic materials: Evolution, current trends, and AI-driven future
Available online 4 September 2025
Energetic materials are capable of storing vast amounts of chemical energy and releasing it over a very short period of time, leading to an irreplaceable usage in both military and civilian applications....
Three-dimensional microstructural characterization of HMX-based propellant via synchrotron X-ray tomography
Available online 23 August 2025
Although octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine (HMX) plays a critical role in high-performance weapon systems, its microstructural behavior within the grains of solid propellants and PBXs...
Shock-induced thermal stability of compacted cyclotrimethylene trinitramine explosive: Effect of densification and particle size
Available online 21 August 2025
This study investigates the shock-induced heating of compacted cyclotrimethylene trinitramine (RDX) particles. Compared to idealized RDX, compacted samples demonstrate a lower Hugoniot elastic limit...
Nitrogen-rich triazine, triazolo and tetrazolo-triazine-based energetic compounds: A new class of fluorinated organic explosives
Available online 20 August 2025
Various nitrogen-rich fluorinated energetic materials based on monocyclic triazine, fused triazolo-triazine, and tetrazolo-triazine backbones were synthesized and fully characterized using multinuclear...
Significant enhancement mechanisms of graphene in laser-ignited combustion of B/KNO3/Phenolic resin
Available online 14 August 2025
B/KNO3/Phenolic resin (BPN) is recognized for its high exothermic energy, superior ignition performance, and enhanced safety, qualifying it as an authorized pyrotechnic material for direct-contact configurations...
Internal Standard-Assisted Ab Initio MD Simulation for Comparative Thermal Stability and Decomposition mechanisms of Energetic Materials
Available online 13 August 2025
Thermal stability is one of the most important and fundamental properties of energetic molecules, and still suffers from many challenges in theoretical evaluation prior to experiment determination....
Multilayer coating of spherical gun propellants via fluidized bed techniques: Enhanced combustion performance and storage stability
Available online 13 August 2025
To address key challenges of conventional spherical gun propellants, including inconsistent energy release, harmful gas emissions, and long-term storage instability, this study utilizes fluidized bed...
Electric exploding of graphene-based bridge foils for stable and efficient plasma-driven flyer generators
Available online 4 July 2025
The exploding foil flyer generators are widely used and critical components for the ignition and detonation of explosives. Due to the reactive surface of the metal bridge foils, it is necessary to develop...
Quantifying the influence of dispersion interactions on the elastic properties of energetic NTO polymorphs
June 2025
3-Nitro-1,2,4-triazole-5-one (NTO) is a promising energetic compound with high energy and low sensitivity. Herein, the elastic properties of three NTO polymorphs are studied using dispersion-corrected...
PBX micro defect characterization by using deep learning and image processing of micro CT images
June 2025
Polymer bonded explosive (PBX) is a composite explosive mainly made up of explosive crystals and binders. The presence of cracks and impurities within PBX impacts its mechanical properties and detonation...
Pyrolysis behavior and mechanism of high nitrogen compound 4,4′,6,6′-tetra(azido)-hydrazine-1,3,5-triazine
June 2025
The pyrolysis behavior and mechanism of energetic materials are crucial for assessing their safety and application. In this study, the pyrolysis behavior, gas-phase decomposition products, condensate...
Shock response in cage-like polynitrocubane high-energy-density materials: Competition between strain energy and structural symmetry
June 2025
The cage-like structures provide a unique combination of strain energy for enhanced energy storage and hyperstatic constraints to stabilize the system, positioning them as promising pioneers in advancing...
Modified double base propellants containing RDX with zero burning rate temperature coefficient
June 2025
Low temperature sensitivity coefficients are of great significance for improving the combustion stability of modified double-base propellants (MDBPs) under sensitive environmental conditions. In this...
Progress on additive manufacturing technology of solid propellants
June 2025
The application of Additive Manufacturing (AM) in the production of solid propellants presents new opportunities to enhance the propulsion performance of rockets, missiles, and space launch vehicles....
Storage stability and safe storage life assessments of gradiently denitrated spherical gun propellants
June 2025
As a new type of gun propellant, Gradiently denitrated spherical gun propellants (GDSP) demonstrate excellent progressive combustion performance and clean combustion performance. However, its unknown...
Packing coefficient determining the packing density difference of CHON-containing isomers
June 2025
Packing density is a basic property of substances and acts as one of important decisive factors of service performances. This work focuses upon the determining factors of packing density at the premise...
Standardizing differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) thermal decomposition temperatures at various heating rates of an energetic material as a threshold one
June 2025
Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) test is capable of providing comprehensive data of peak temperature (Tp, K) and onset temperature (To, K) at various heating rates (β) and widely applied in the...
Cover Story
June 2025
Combustion synthesis of Cu/CuO-doped porous carbon nitride nanocomposites: rapid preparation of high-performance catalysts for the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate
Available online 21 June 2025
There is a growing interest in the development of metal-doped carbon nitrides due to their extensive applications in photocatalysis, organocatalysis, electrocatalysis, nanozymes, and biosensing technologies....
Octahydrotriborate (B3H8−) based hypergolic ionic liquids as ultra-fast ignition propellant fuels with superior decomposition efficiency
Available online 21 June 2025
Hypergolic ionic liquids (HILs) have been investigated to replace traditional toxic hydrazine fuels. Among numerous HILs, borohydride ionic liquids have demonstrated excellent ignition performance and...
Two-step facile access to a novel pyrazole-based high energy density oxidizer via pentanitro-functionalization
Available online 12 June 2025
Green high-energy oxidizers are significant for solid propellants due to the reported health and environmental issues of current halogen-containing benchmark material, ammonium perchlorate. Traditional...
Nitropyrazole energetic compounds functionalized with dinitroethyl, trinitromethyl, or oxadiazolyl group: Synthesis, structure and energetic performance
Available online 24 May 2025
Pyrazole derivatives with polynitro groups were extensively researched in energetic material field as they show high energy density and excellent detonation properties, but the specific synthesis process...
Tune overpressure output and distribution characteristic through designing a gradient structured explosive charge
Available online 21 May 2025
The overpressure generated by explosive charges exerts a significant impact in various engineering fields. To regulate the overpressure output and distribution characteristics of explosive charges,...
Targeted nano-energetic material exploration through active learning algorithm implementation
March 2025
This paper presents an active learning-based method designed to guide experiments towards user-defined specific regions, termed ”regions of interest,” within vast and multi-dimensional thermite design...