Modern and well-equipped synthesis and analysis laboratories and chemical pilot plants are available in the department for Energetic Materials, for cutting-edge research in chemical processing technology. Several laboratories and pilot plants are specially built and equipped for work with explosives. Safety boxes enable remote and safe processing of explosives for civil and defense applications such as gas generators, pyrotechnical compounds, explosives, rocket propellants and propellant powders. Mixers, extruders, shear rolls, presses, reaction injection moulding and various milling and coating units are also available, for use in the special processing methods needed to process explosives.

The development of innovative synthesis routes for the preparation of energetic materials begins in standard laboratories, where micro-reaction technology is applied, minimising the use of dangerous substances. A chemical pilot plant for upscaling is also available, in which all basic operations can be carried out under the necessary safety conditions.

In the research field of particle technology, crystallisation, milling and coating processes are carried out to produce tailored particulate products. The equipment involved ranges from crystallisation units to a spray column. The scale of the equipment, which uses supercritical fluids (scf) to produce and modify extremely small particles, ranges from laboratory scale for product quantities in the (sub-)milligram range through to pilot units with production capacities of over 100 grams of material / day. This wide range of equipment enables cost-efficient and precise control of processing parameters, specifically for high-value chemical and pharmaceutical products.

In the field of analytics a variety of standard analyses, and also analysis processes specially adapted for energetic materials, are carried out and further developed:

• Chromatographic analysis techniques / sample preparation:
  GC-MSD, GC-TID, GC-FID, GC-WLD, Fast-GC, IC, HPLC, GPC, SPME, DTD, Head-Space, Tenax, Soxhlet etc.

• Spectroscopic analysis techniques:
  UV-VIS, IR (EGA, Diamond-Cell, ATR, long range gas cells, microscope), NIR, Raman, Fluorescence, Luminescence, MS, IMS, Pushbroom Imaging

• Thermoanalytical techniques:
  TG, TG-MS, DSC, High-Temperature-TGA, –DSC, ARC, µ-Calorimeter, RC1

• Mechanical analysis:
  Pull / crush test, rheological investigations using TMA, DMA, viscosimeter

• Surface characterisation:
  Tensiometer (liquids, surfaces, powder), BET to determine surface, AFM

• Particle characterisation:
  Particle size measurement: laser diffraction spectroscopy, photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS), 3 wavelength absorbance measurement device (3-λ), optical microscopy with automated image evaluation, granulate strength test, density measurement using gas pyknometry

• Detection of explosives and TICs (Toxic Industrial Chemicals)
  Infrared spectroscopy (FIR, NIR, MIR, Raman), gas chromatography, fluorescence spectroscopy, UV-photo-fragmentation

• Other:
  Foam strength tests, measurement of porosity, microcomputer tomography, etc.