In Situ Polymerization of 4‐Aminostyrene on TATB Crystal Surfaces for Interfacial Strengthening of Energetic Composites

ABSTRACT 1,3, 5‐triamino‐2,4, 6‐trinitrobenzene (TATB)‐based polymerbonded explosives (PBX) are widely used in the military field due to their high energy density and low sensitivity. However, due to the weak interface between TATB crystals and fluoropolymer binder, it always has low structural stability and mechanical properties, making it difficult to meet the requirements of PBX charges to maintain integrity and reliability under complex loads. To overcome this limitation, we proposed a facile surface‐modification strategy, coating a robust zwitterionic poly (4‐aminostyrene)‐grafted‐poly (acrylic acid) [P(4‐AS)‐PAA] on TATB through the self‐polymerization of 4‐aminostyrene in the presence of poly (acrylic acid). The results showed that the surface roughness of TATB coated with P(4‐AS)‐PAA increases, thereby increasing the physical anchor sites between the TATB crystal and the fluoropolymer binder. Further comparing the mechanical properties of PBX coated with different content of P(4‐AS)‐PAA, it was found that PBX coated with 0.81% P(4‐AS)‐PAA has the best performance, whose tensile and compressive strength is 31.4% and 43.0% higher than that of unmodified PBX. In addition, it was confirmed that the modified TATB‐based PBX has superior creep resistance at elevated temperature based on dynamic mechanical analysis. This work revealed that this surface‐modification strategy using zwitterionic coating could offer a practical route to enhance the mechanical performance of TATB‐based PBX.