Thermal decomposition kinetics of 2-ethylhexyl nitrate under non-isothermal and isothermal conditions

2-Ethylhexyl nitrate (EHN) is an important nitro compound for chemical industry. However, EHN is an unstable material and frequently causes fire and explosion accidents. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the mechanism of its thermal decomposition. In this paper, EHN was investigated by differential scanning calorimeter under non-isothermal and isothermal conditions, and its thermal decomposition kinetics was calculated with Friedman method. A model for the decomposition reaction was established by Malek method and verified by an isothermal method. The results indicated that the values of activation energy (E) for EHN were (154 ± 3) kJ mol−1 under non-isothermal and (157 ± 7) kJ mol−1 under isothermal conditions. In addition, there was almost no difference in E at various extent of the reactant conversion, suggesting that a single-step reaction model is suitable to describe the decomposition reaction. In addition, the temperature of no return (TNR) and self-accelerating decomposition temperature were calculated under non-isothermal and isothermal conditions. Using Malek method, the decomposition model obtained is Avrami–Erofeev equation (n = 4/3). This model was verified by G(α), based on the results of isothermal experiment. The kinetic parameters under the isothermal conditions were in good agreement with those obtained under the non-isothermal conditions.