Synthesis, characterization, thermal stability and sensitivity properties of the new energetic polymer through the azidoacetylation of poly(vinyl alcohol)

A new energetic polymer, polyvinyl acetate azide (PVAA), was synthesized via a two-step process involving initial chloroacetylation and subsequent azidation of poly(vinyl alcohol) and was characterized by elemental analysis, UV-Vis, ATR-FTIR, 1H and 13C NMR techniques. The glass-transition temperature of PVAA was evaluated by DSC method and the thermal stability of PVAA was tested by DTA and TGA methods. The results indicate that PVAA shows single glass-transition temperature at 24.60 °C and exhibits good resistance to thermal decomposition up to 200 °C. Moreover, the sensitivity properties of PVAA were measured with the national military standard methods and the compatibilities of PVAA with the energetic components of TNT-based melt cast explosives were studied by using the non-isothermal DSC method. The results indicate that PVAA is an insensitive energetic polymer and can be safely used in melt cast explosives.