The major energy components of double-based gunpowder are nitrocellulose (NC) and nitroglycerin (NG). In double-based gunpowder NG is used as a plasticizer and, at the same time, as an energetic component. Since the amount of NG in the gunpowder strongly influences and affects its chemical and mechanical properties or/and characteristics, the study of NG content is of great importance. The aim of this paper is to compare the analytical performances of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and classic analytical volumetric method for the separation and qualitative determination of nitroglycerine in smokeless gunpowder.

The main ingredient of gunpowder is nitrocellulose. For slowing down the catalytical decomposition process, predominated stabilizer diphenylamine is in use for single-base gunpowder, as well as for propellants. On the other hand, the stabilizer wears out over time, which causes changes in chemical stability of energetic materials. One of the classical methods for determination the chemical stability is the Bergman-Jung method, which has two subgroups. This paper presents comparative analyses for twelve NC and five NCD gunpowder. Namely, both subgroups are based on the calculation of the volume of nitric oxide gases, but the difference between them depend on the method of collecting and determining released gases.