Energetic properties, thermal behavior and thermal safety of 4-(2,2,2-trinitroethyl)-2,6,8,10,12-pentanitro-2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaazaisowurtzitane

Abstract The physicochemical and energetic properties of 4-(2,2,2-trinitroethyl)-2,6,8,10,12-pentanitro-2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaazaisowurtzitane (1) are investigated. The energetic cage compound exhibits detonation properties comparable to those of HMX, and its impact sensitivity is higher than that of e-CL-20. It shows a significantly higher thermal stability with a decomposition temperature of 227.6 °C than those of the other trinitromethyl-substituted energetic compounds. Its thermal behavior is further investigated using differential scanning calorimetry and accelerating rate calorimetry. The non-isothermal and adiabatic decomposition reaction kinetics of compound 1 are studied, and its thermal safety is evaluated using different criteria including the self-accelerating decomposition temperature, critical temperature of thermal explosion, and five-second delay exploding point.