Consideration of Autocatalytic Behavior in Determination of Self Accelerating Decomposition Temperature

Abstract

When determining Self Accelerating Decomposition Temperatures (SADT) for shipment purposes, the kinetics of the decomposition reaction of the materials must be known. The simplified models assuming the first order decomposition kinetics are generally applied, however this traditional approach fails in correct SADT determination for autocatalytic and multistage overlapped reactions. For these cases a more universal, yet easily implemented, advanced method will be presented in which the detailed kinetic mechanism does not need to be known to correctly predict SADT. Using a series of DSC tests, AKTS-Thermokinetics software can extract kinetic parameters by the differential isoconversional approach. These kinetic parameters can then be applied for the prediction of the chemicals behavior in the kilogram scale. The results of the determination of the decomposition kinetics of azodicarbonamide is presented and applied to evaluate SADT for a 50 kg package. Results obtained by presented method will be compared to those determined by other methods.