Ionic Liquid Polymer Binder for Pyrotechnic Phlegmatization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing pyrotechnic active materials face challenges with sensitivity, storage stability, and temperature-dependent behavior due to volatile plasticizers, which affect their safety and performance.
Innovation Solution
A composition of an ionic liquid and a polar polymer, such as polyacrylonitrile or nitrocellulose, is used to create a viscoelastic material with high density and tailored thermal properties, providing a non-volatile, high-specific-output binder that maintains stability and safety over long storage and varying temperatures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If volatile plasticizers are used in pyrotechnic active materials, then the material achieves desired flexibility and processability, but the material suffers from migration, loss of phlegmatization, and reduced storage stability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the fundamental parameter of plasticizer volatility by replacing volatile organic plasticizers with ionic liquids that have negligible vapor pressure. This parameter change eliminates migration and evaporation while maintaining the plasticizing effect, thereby resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and reliability during storage
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite system by combining ionic liquids with pyrotechnic active materials. This composite approach allows the ionic liquid to serve as both a plasticizer and a stabilizing medium, providing both flexibility and long-term storage stability simultaneously
2Ease of operation
If conventional plasticizers are used, then the material achieves desired viscosity and flow properties, but the plasticizer migrates and evaporates over time causing property changes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the volatility parameter of the plasticizing agent by using ionic liquids with extremely low vapor pressure. This maintains the desired viscosity and flow properties during processing while preventing evaporation and composition changes during storage
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces conventional short-lived organic plasticizers with stable ionic liquids that maintain their properties indefinitely, eliminating the need for replacement or reprocessing due to plasticizer degradation
3Quantity of substance
If high density is achieved using ionic liquids, then the specific output of the pyrotechnic active mass increases, but the material sensitivity may increase
Solution Approach 1:
The ionic liquid acts as an intermediary medium between the pyrotechnic active particles, providing a dense but stable environment that increases specific output while the viscoelastic properties of the polymer-ionic liquid matrix dampen sensitivity to external stimuli
4Ease of operation
If the material remains liquid at low temperatures, then it maintains flowability, but it loses viscoelastic properties and becomes too fluid
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a composite system where the polymer matrix provides viscoelastic structure while the ionic liquid provides low-temperature fluidity. This composite approach allows the material to maintain viscoelastic properties even at temperatures where conventional materials would become too fluid
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The viscoelastic material enhances the safety and performance of pyrotechnic active substances by maintaining phlegmatization and thermal stability, preventing volatile migration, and imparting electrical conductivity, making them safer and more reliable for military use.
Implementation Method 1
the polymer is dissolved in the ionic liquid or the mixture of ionic liquids in such an amount that the resulting material has viscoelastic properties
Implementation Method 2
The value of the yield point is the value at which the force transmitted through the viscoelastic material is reduced by 5% compared to the force transmitted in the linear viscoelastic range
Implementation Method 3
The viscoelastic material is electrically conductive due to the ionic liquid. As a result, it can, for example, impart electrical conductivity to a pyrotechnic active mass, with the result that electrostatic discharges on the pyrotechnic active mass can be avoided
Implementation Method 4
an ionic liquid is not volatile at the usual temperatures, it does not migrate, in contrast to known plasticizers
Implementation Method 5
the decomposition of the ionic liquid caused by heating becomes exothermic. However, an inert anion such as, for example, acetate, dicyanamide, hexafluorophosphate or tetrafluoroborate can also be selected. Then the decomposition of the ionic liquid is endothermic, at least at the beginning of heating
Data Source
AI summary
Use of a composition which is a viscoelastic material, comprising a polar polymer, preferably polyacrylonitrile, polyvinyl nitrate, polyvinylpyrrolidone or nitrocellulose, and an ionic liquid or its mixture, as an agent for desensitizing a pyrotechnic active mass, is claimed.