The thermal decomposition of RDX at temperatures below the melting point. I. Comments on the mechanism

Abstract

Two mechanisms have recently been proposed to explain the behaviour of the initial rate of decomposition of RDX, with change in sample geometry. These are (i)that the decomposition proceeds by concurrent gas and liquid phase reactions, and (ii) that gaseous decomposition products influence the rate of decomposition of undecomposed RDX in the condensed phase. In this paper it is concluded that mechanism (ii) is the more probable when the reaction is carried out in the presence of nitrogen.