A study has taken place to compare the effect of different sources of nitrocellulose (NC) when formulated into sheets of the binder from a UK polymer bonded explosive (PBX) formulation. This binder formulation includes K10 plasticiser and ethyl cenlralite (EC) stabiliser, as well as the NC polymer. Four formulations, each containing a different source of NC, were cast into thin sheets of binder and thoroughly characterised before being isothermally accelerated aged at four temperatures ranging from 313 - 343 K (40 - 70 °C). Infrared analysis of the head space gas above the ageing vessels was used to quantify the rate of evolution of N_2O, CO_2 and CO. Triple detector Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC), High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) were also used to study the effects of different sources of NC on the ageing of the binder sheets. Point by point kinetic analysis was used to find activation energies for the different variables that were monitored in the ageing studies, allowing the ageing of the different sources of NC to be compared.
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