Significantly Enhanced Thermal Decomposition of Mechanically Activated Ammonium Perchlorate Coupling with Nano Copper Chromite

[Image: see text] In this article, nano-CuCr(2)O(4) (copper chromite)/ultrafine ammonium perchlorate (AP) composites were prepared by a ultrasonic dispersion method and a mechanical grinding method. A series of nano-CuCr(2)O(4)/ultrafine AP composites with different dispersions were prepared by controlling the compounding time to study the best catalytic effect of nano-CuCr(2)O(4) on the ultrafine AP. The microstructures, surface elements, and morphologies of samples were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersion X-ray spectroscopy. The catalytic effect of nano-CuCr(2)O(4) on the thermal decomposition of AP was investigated by differential scanning calorimetric techniques and thermogravimetric analysis. The results indicated that the mechanical ball milling method could make nano-CuCr(2)O(4) more evenly dispersed on the ultrafine AP, and with the increase in the milling time, the uniformity of nano-CuCr(2)O(4) on the ultrafine AP was better. When the milling time was 6–12 h, nano-CuCr(2)O(4) was most evenly dispersed on the ultrafine AP. At this time, the decomposition temperature and Gibbs free energy of the nano-CuCr(2)O(4)/ultrafine AP composite were the lowest, which decreased by 78.1 °C and 25.16 kJ/mol compared with those of ultrafine AP, respectively. Moreover, the mechanical sensitivity of nano-CuCr(2)O(4)/ultrafine AP composites was lower than that of ultrafine AP. It showed that ball milling for 6–12 h could make nano-CuCr(2)O(4) evenly dispersed on the ultrafine AP, and nano-CuCr(2)O(4) could play the best catalytic effect on the ultrafine AP.