Effect of energetic materials wettability on their outdoor effective elution rate

Energetic materials (EM) contained in military ammunitions have been found in the surface soil and water of training areas and may potentially represent a threat to human health and the environment. EM wettability is an essential physical parameter to characterize because it controls EM dissolution rate. This paper was conducted to determine the wettability of conventional and new EM formulations used in military ammunition. Wettability was estimated in the laboratory via contact angle measurements of water droplets on different EM surfaces. Results show that 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), 1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazinane (RDX), Octol and energetic thermoplastic elastomer (ETPE) 1000 are hydrophilic while Composition B, XRT, GIM, CX-85, ETPE 2000, and C4 are hydrophobic whereas HELOVA gun propellant has a mixed wettability oscillating between hydrophilic and hydrophobic. The present study demonstrates that wettability of EM formulation is generally controlled by their matrix constituents. Results indicate that hydrophobic formulations have a much slower outdoor environmental effective elution rate than hydrophilic ones, with the exception of the hydrophobic C4 formulation whose elution rate is extremely high. The addition of hydrophobic components into EM formulations is recommended to diminish the environmental impact on water, as it has already been done with XRT, GIM and CX-85 formulations.