Kinetics of thermal decomposition of nano magnesium oxide catalyzed ammonium perchlorate

Arrhenius kinetic parameters of ammonium perchlorate (ap) catalyzed with nano-sized magnesium oxide (mgo) has been determined in this work. nano particles of mgo with an average size of approximately 20 to 30 nm have been used to catalyze the ap. the particles were characterized using scanning electron microscope (sem) and x-ray diffraction (xrd) techniques before mixing with ap. simultaneous thermal analysis (sta) shows that mgo nanoparticles have a strong catalytic effect on the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate. the addition of mgo nano particles reduces the two stage decomposition of ammonium perchlorate to a single stage. arrhenius kinetic parameters of pure and the catalyzed ap have been calculated using non isothermal kinetic approach based on kissinger method. the comparison of the thermal behavior and kinetic parameters of pure and catalyzed ap has also been carried out to elucidate the reaction mechanism. the results show that the activation energy of the catalyzed ap has increased from 138.1 kj/mole to 159.1kj/mole. the rate of reaction,however,has increased in the catalyzed ap showing that it has become more reactive by the addition of mgo nano particles. the enthalpy of activation has increased by 16 percent in the catalyzed ap.