Investigating the Compatibility of Trimethylolethane Trinitrate Energetic Plasticizer with Polydimethylsiloxane

Today, vacuum stability test is one of the best methods to investigation the compatibility of different plasticizers and polymers. In this research, the compatibility of polydimethylsiloxane resin with trimethylolethane trinitrate energetic plasticizer was investigated. The applied approaches included vacuum stability test (VST) and glass transition temperature determination using DSC analysis. The acceptance limit of TMETN plasticizer by polydimethylsiloxane resin was determined using retardation and it was found that this polymer can accept the plasticizer at least 20% (w/w). Investigating the glass transition temperature with DSC analysis test showed that polydimethylsiloxane has good compatibility with TMETN plasticizer. The amount of gas released from the sample in standard conditions (VR) in the VST test was calculated as 4.77 cm3, which was within the allowed range and indicates the compatibility of TMETN plasticizer with polydimethylsiloxane.