Kinetic analysis and self-accelerating decomposition temperature (SADT) of β-nitroso-α-naphthol

• β-Nitroso-α-naphthol's Tonset was 153–173 °C in dynamic DSC tests.
• An interrupt-rescanning method verified the autocatalysis of its decomposition.
• Isothermal DSC tests confirmed the autocatalytic characteristic.
• E and ln A were 149 ± 8 kJ mol−1 and 36 ± 2 s−1 calculated by Kissinger method.
• Its SADT values were 81 °C and 67 °C by the Semenov and F-K models respectively.

To study the thermal hazard of β-nitroso-α-naphthol, both dynamic and isothermal tests were performed with a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The dynamic tests indicated that the initial decomposition temperature of β-nitroso-α-naphthol ranged from 153 °C to 173 °C. The interrupt-rescanning method verified the autocatalytic characteristic of β-nitroso-α-naphthol decomposition. DSC curves obtained at five constant temperatures confirmed that the decomposition of β-nitroso-α-naphthol was an autocatalytic reaction. Activation energy E was 149 ± 8 kJ mol−1 calculated by Kissinger method. E values calculated by induction period method and isothermal method were in line with that obtained by Friedman method. On the basis of the kinetic analysis, the safety parameter SADT of β-nitroso-α-naphthol in 50 kg standard packaging was 81 °C based on Semenov model and 67 °C based on Frank-Kamenetskii model.