FIRST STEP TOWARD A RADICAL POLYMER-BASED CONDUCTIVE ENERGETIC MATERIAL

Plastic bonded explosives (PBXs) and composite propellants (CPs) have yet to fully leverage the electrically conductive capability of polymers and nanomaterials. A PBX or CP with a high degree of electrical conductivity could be utilized for many different applications. In this work, an electrically conductive radical polymer is used as a binder in mock PBX formulations. Specifically, poly(4-glycidyloxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl) (PTEO) was copolymerized with glycidyloxy-benzophenone (GBP) to create PTEO-co-GBP (PTEO-GBP), and this was blended with sugar, which acted as a solid energetic simulant. Crosslinking of PTEO-GBP and the sugar- PTEO-GBP composites revealed both thermal and UV curing mechanisms for the polymer. Finally, silver nanowires (AgNWs) were added to impart macroscale conductivity to the mock PBX composites. Due to the intrinsic conductivity of the PTEO moiety, only low loadings of AgNWs were required to observe an electrical conductivity of ~1Scm. Additionally, this level of AgNWs mechanically reinforced the composite, producing a mechanically robust mock PBX. Thus, this study presents the first step in developing a highly conductive energetic composite that utilizes a radical polymer as the binder and is capable of being resistively heated.