Diaminoguanidine nitrate (DAGN) and triaminoguanidine nitrate (TAGN), poten
tial energetic materials in emerging propulsion technology with high mass i
mpetus at low isochoric flame temperature have been studied as regards kine
tics and mechanism of thermal decomposition using thermogravimetry (TG), di
fferential thermal analysis (DTA), infrared spectroscopy (IR) and hot stage
microscopy. Kinetics of thermolysis has been followed by isothermal TG and
IR. For the initial stage of thermolysis of DAGN the best linearity with a
correlation coefficient of 0.9976 was obtained for the Avrami-Erofe'ev equ
ation, n=2, by isothermal TG. The activation energy was found to be 130 kJ
mol(-1) and logA=11.4. The initial stage of thermolysis of TAGN also obeyed
the Avrami-Erofe'ev equation, n=2, with a correlation coefficient of 0.997
5 by isothermal TG and the kinetic parameters are E=160.0 kJ mol(-1) and lo
gA=16.0. High temperature IR spectra showed exquisite preferential loss in
intensity of the NH2, NH, N-N stretching and CNN bending. Spectroscopic and
other results favour deamination reaction involving the rupture of the N-N
bond as the primary step in the thermal decomposition.