Study on the melting process of nitrocellulose by thermal analysis method

The melting process of NC is studied by using modulated differential scanni ng calorimetry (MDSC) technique, the microscope carrier method for measurin g the melting point and the simultaneous device of the solid reaction cell in situ/RSFT-IR. The results show that the endothermic process in the MDSC curve is reversible. It is caused by the phase change from solid to liquid of the mixture of initial NC, decomposition partly into condensed phase pro ducts. The values of the melting point, melting enthalpy (Delta H-m), melti ng entropy (Delta S-m), the enthalpy of decomposition (Delta H-dec) and the heat-temperature quotient (Delta S-dec) obtained by the MDSC curve of NC a t a heating rate of 10 K min(-1) are 476.84 K, 205.6 J g(-1), 0.4312 J g(-1 ) K-1, -2475.0 J g(-1) and 5.242 J g(-1) K-1, respectively. The MDSC result s of NC with different nitrogen contents show that with increasing the nitr ogen content in NC, the absolute values of Delta H-m, Delta S-m, Delta H-de c and Delta S-dec increase.