A "snapshot" simulation of the surface reaction zone is captured by a thin film of material heated rapidly to temperatures characteristic of the burning surface by using the T-jump/FTIR spectroscopy. The time-to-exotherm (tx) kinetics method derived from the control voltage trace of the Pt filament can be introduced to resolve the kinetics of an energetic material owing to its high sensitivity to the thermochemical reactions. The kinetic parameters of the two title compounds are determined under different pressures. The results show that Li(NTO)·2H2O and Na(NTO)·H2O (NTO = anion of 3-nitro-1,2,4-triazol-5-one) exhibit weak pressure dependence, their decomposition is dominated by the condensed phase chemistry irrespective of the pressure in the 0.1-1.1 MPa range. The values of Ea determined here are smaller than those given by a traditional non-isothermal differential scanning colorimetry (DSC) method, which might be resembled as the surface of explosion more closely and enabled the pyrolysis surface to be incorporated into models of steady and possibly unsteady combustion. The kinetics can also be successfully used to understand the behavior of the energetic material in practical combustion problems.
