Effect of method of crystallization on the IV-III and IV-II polymorphic transitions of ammonium nitrate

A study has been undertaken on the effect of crystallization method on the IV ↔ III transition of ammonium nitrate (AN). AN is crystallized in three different ways, viz. recrystallization, evaporative crystallization and melt crystallization. When the samples were crystallized from saturated aqueous solution, ideal crystals were formed, which behaved differently from the crystals formed from the other methods. The DTA examination of the crystals showed that the crystals have different transition behaviour. The moisture uptake of the samples determined were found to have influenced by the mode of crystallization. The samples were further analyzed by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The present study showed that the parameters like thermal history, number of previous transformations and moisture content have a very negligible influence on the IV ↔ III transition of AN as compared to the method of crystallization.