DOI: 10.1002/prep.201500312 Role of Metal Oxide Nanomaterials on Thermal Stability of 1,3,6-Trinitrocarbazole Seied Mahdi Pourmortazavi,* [a] Mehdi Rahimi-Nasrabadi, [b] Hossein Rai, [b] Abbas Besharati-Seidani, [c] and Abdollah Javidan [b] 1 Introduction The chemical structure of 1,3,6-Trinitrocarbazole (TENT) is shown in Figure 1. This nitroaromatic compound is investi- gated for its use as secondary explosive [1, 2]. Since Second World War, TENT has been used as black powder inheritor due to its non-corrosive and non-humidity properties. Nowadays, TENT is used in explosives formulations contain- ing 1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocane (HMX) and 1,3,5-tri- nitro-1,3,5-triazinane (RDX) for reducing sensitivity and en- hancing the stability [2, 3]. Furthermore, TENT could be used in car airbags as the catalyst and initiator of decom- position [4]. In civil industry TENT is applied as an insecti- cide [3, 4]. Usually, organic/inorganic nanocomposites comprise of one or more nanomaterials. They have been widely ex- plored during recent years [5–9]. Nanomaterials may be categorized to three major groups, depending on the number of dispersed particle dimensions in the nano-scale, i.e., nanoparticles, nanolayers, and nanotubes [10–13]. Inor- ganic nanomaterials include nanotubes (mainly carbon nanotubes or CNTs), layered silicates (e.g., montmorillonite and SiO 2 ), metal oxides (i.e., Al 2 O 3 , TiO 2 , Fe 2 O 3 ), pure or al- loyed metals nanoparticles (i.e., Au, Ag), semiconductors (i.e., PbS, CdS), and nanodiamonds [5, 14]. These nanoparti- cles are utilized to enhance the physical and mechanical properties of organics and polymers in diverse composites [15]. Meanwhile, the influence of nanoparticles on improv- ing flame retardancy and thermal degradation of nanocom- posites is well known [15]. Thermal analysis methods play a significant role in as- sessing information on the potential hazards during stor- age, processing, handling, and also approximating shelf-life of energetic materials [16–20]. Furthermore, thermokinetic data provide valuable information on thermal stability and [a] S. M. Pourmortazavi Faculty of Material and Manufacturing Technologies Malek Ashtar University of Technology P.O. Box 16765-3454 Tehran Iran *e-mail: pourmortazavi@yahoo.com [b] M. Rahimi-Nasrabadi, H. Rai, A. Javidan Nano Science Centre Imam Hossein University Tehran Iran [c] A. Besharati-Seidani Department of Chemistry Malek Ashtar University of Technology Tehran Iran Abstract : The thermal behaviour of 1,3,6-trinitrocarbazole (TENT) in the form of pure and nanocomposite explosives was examined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetry (TG). Thermoanalytical data revealed that thermal decomposition of pure TENT is significantly different from the investigated nanocomposites. The results confirmed that pure TENT decomposed completely in a single stage in the temperature range 400–450 8C. Though, addition of the nanoparticles to the TENT powder leads to higher thermal stability in comparison with the pure TENT. Decomposition kinetics of the pure TENT and the nanocomposites were studied by non-isothermal DSC at diverse heating rates. The resulted thermokinetic and thermodynamic parameters for the thermal decomposition of pure TENT were compared with the nanocomposites. Keywords: Thermal behavior · Nanocomposites · Thermokinetic · 1,3,6-Trinitrocarbazole · Energetic compositions Figure 1. Chemical structure of 1,3,6 trinitro-carbazole (TENT). DOI: 10.1002/prep.201500312  2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim &1& These are not the final page numbers! ÞÞ Full Paper