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AssigneeCordant Technologies Inc.
InventorsKirstin F. Warner, Louis F. Cannizzo, Robert M. Hajik
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Nitramines are one of the more expensive and often the more plentiful ingredients found in energetic materials, such as solid rocket motor propellants, explosives, and pyrotechnics. By treating aluminized energetic material with an aqueous nitric acid solution containing not more than 55% by weight aqueous nitric acid at a weight ratio of aqueous nitric acid to energetic material of about 4:1 to about 6:1, most constituents of conventional aluminized energetic materials are digested into solution, with the exception of nitramines, which remain substantially insoluble in the aqueous nitric acid and can be recovered without requiring recrystallization of the nitramines. A mineral acid other than nitric acid, preferably hydrchloric acid, may be added to increase the rate of aluminum digestion. Treatment of the energetic material can be performed without volatile organic solvents, thus obviating ecological, cost, and safety concerns raised by the use of volatile organic solvents.
A method of recovering a nitramine from a nitramine-containing aluminized energetic material, said method comprising subjecting the nitramine-containing aluminized energetic material comprising aluminum, the nitramine, and at least one binder to treatment in aqueous nitric acid to digest the binder into solution while neither solvating nor solvolyzing into solution at least substantially all of the nitramine, and recovering at least a portion of the nitramine, wherein a weight ratio of the aqueous nitric acid to the nitramine-containing aluminized energetic material in the treatment is in a range of about 4:1 to about 6:1, and further wherein not more than 55 weight percent of the aqueous nitric acid consists of nitric acid.
A method of recovering 1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetraaza-cyclooctane (HMX) from an aluminized energetic material, said method comprising subjecting the aluminized energetic material comprising aluminum, HMX, and at least one binder to treatment in aqueous nitric acid to digest the binder into solution while neither solvating nor solvolyzing into solution at least substantially all of the HMX, and recovering at least a portion of the HMX, wherein a weight ratio of the aqueous nitric acid to the aluminized energetic material in the treatment is in a range of about 4:1 to about 6:1, and further wherein not more than 55 weight percent of the aqueous nitric acid consists of nitric acid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.