Fabrication and characterization of HMX@TPEE energetic microspheres with reduced sensitivity and superior toughness properties

The development of a facile method for improvement of interface interaction between rigid particles and coating polymer is of great importance for energetic composite materials, especially for military purpose. In this paper, energetic composites with spherical morphology, toughness property and low sensitivity are firstly fabricated by using Octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine (HMX) as core material and thermoplastic polyester-ether elastomer (TPEE) as shell material via an emulsion solvent evaporation (ESV) method. From the morphology and structure characteristic of as-prepared energetic microspheres, it is found that the HMX@TPEE energetic microspheres have uniform spherical morphologies, narrow size distribution and honeycomb coating structure under the circumstance of compound emulsifiers and appropriate core-shell ratio. The good toughness of HMX@TPEE microspheres in Brazilian test and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) demonstrates a new route to enhance interface interaction between HMX particles and TPEE matrix. Moreover, because of the favorable energy-decentralizing property of this exotic honeycomb structure, the sensitivity of HMX@TPEE microspheres measured by BAM impact sensitivity instrument can be markedly decreased and the impact energy (Eli) can be improved from 3.5 J to 8.0 J at the HMX/TPEE ratio of 5/1. This fabrication of HMX@TPEE microspheres with adjustable coating content via a facile ESV process might provide a promising approach for HMX based energetic composites to enhance the safety and toughness properties when used in advanced weapon system.