Investigation of Physical and Chemical Properties of TNT after Spray Drying

Scanningelectron microscopy images of the as-received 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene(TNT) and TNT after being dissolved in acetone and spray-dried usingthe 0.7 mm nozzle are analyzed. 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene(TNT) is a common insensitive energetic materialfor a variety of applications. Previous studies on TNT have revealeda complex nature of the material in terms of physical and chemicalproperties. We demonstrate the use of recrystallization and spraydrying of TNT to produce a unique particle morphology with high purityand investigate important changes in the physical and chemical properties.We observed that spray drying of TNT fully isolated the less stableorthorhombic crystalline phase, following Ostwald's rule ofstages, due to the fast precipitation time and elevated temperatureof the process. We also showed that spray drying removes some of thelow-boiling point synthesis impurities from crude TNT. However, recrystallizationin solution prior to spray drying was necessary to produce a highpurity TNT after spray drying.