Insights into oxidant matching with green gas generator 5-aminotetrazole from aspects of thermal decomposition behavior, kinetics and combustion mechanism

The green gas generator 5-aminotetrazole (5-AT) is widely applied as an energetic material due to its exceptional characteristics. To investigate the impact of oxidants on the decomposition performance of 5-AT, we prepared three samples using three different oxidants (Sr(NO3)2, KNO3, and KClO4) along with 5-AT under the principle of zero oxygen balance. Then, thermal behavior of the three samples was examined using TG-DTA and TG-FTIR, and their activation energies for each reaction stage were calculated using iso-conversional methods. Results show that the decomposition of these samples occurs in multiple reaction stages and all oxidants, particularly KNO3, facilitate the thermal decomposition of 5-AT. Furthermore, the detailed decomposition mechanism of 5-AT with oxidants was speculated, including that there are two simultaneous ring-opening paths in the first thermal decomposition step of each 5-AT isomer. Eventually, this research can give a meaningful instruction to the formulation design of gas-generation propellant with fewer restrictions in their application.