The Catalytic Effect of a Mechanochemically Synthesized Co–Fe Metal–Organic Framework on the Thermal Decomposition Behavior of Ammonium Perchlorate–Aluminum Composite Mixtures

In this work, the catalytic effect of a mechanochemically synthesized Co–Fe metal–organic framework (Co–Fe-MOF) on the thermal decomposition behavior of composite ammonium perchlorate–aluminum (AP-Al) systems was studied. The structural and morphological properties of the synthesized catalyst were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results confirmed the formation of a highly dispersed Co–Fe-MOF structure with a heterogeneous surface morphology and uniformly distributed active regions, as observed by SEM. The thermal decomposition behavior of the composites based on AP was studied using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) at different heating rates. The addition of Co–Fe-MOF significantly affected the thermal decomposition process, moving the main exothermic decomposition step towards lower temperatures. At 5 wt.% of catalyst, the decomposition temperature decreased from 438–467 °C to 358–398 °C. The kinetic parameters were evaluated using the Kissinger and Ozawa–Flynn–Wall methods. The activation energy decreased from around 191–200 kJ·mol−1 for pure AP and 184–194 kJ·mol−1 for the AP-Al system to 95–109 kJ·mol−1 after the introduction of 5 wt.% of Co-Fe-MOF. The observed catalytic activity is associated with accelerated electron transfer processes involving the redox couples Co3+/Co2+ and Fe3+/Fe2+, which favor the decomposition of AP and the oxidation of aluminum. The results demonstrate that the mechanochemically synthesized Co–Fe-MOF is an effective catalyst to improve the thermokinetic performance of AP-based energetic systems.