The thermal behavior of 3,3-dinitroazetidinium hydrochloride (DNAZ center dot HCl) was studied at a nonisothermal condition by differential scanning calorimetric and thermogravimetric/differential thermogravimetric methods. The results show that there is only one intense exothermic decomposition process. Its kinetic parameters of the intense exothermic decomposition process are obtained from analysis of the DSC curves. The apparent activation energy (E-a), pre-exponential factor (A), and the mechanism function (f(alpha)) are 155.72 kimol(-1), 10(15.84) s(-1) and 3 alpha(2/3), respectively. The specific heat capacity (C-p) of DNAZ center dot HCl was determined with a continuous C-p mode of microcalorimeter. The specific molar heat capacity (C-p,C-m) of DNAZ center dot HCl was 205.10 J.mol(-1).K-1 at 298.15 K. The self-accelerating decomposition temperature (T-SADT), thermal ignition temperature (T-TTT), and critical temperatures of thermal explosion (T-b) were obtained to evaluate the thermal stability and safety of DNAZ center dot HCl. The detonation velocity (D) and detonation pressure (P) of DNAZ center dot HCl were estimated using the nitrogen equivalent equation according to the experimental density. The stability, safety, and detonation performance of DNAZ center dot HCl were compared with that of 3,3-dinitroazetidinium 3,5-dinitrosalicylate (DNAZ center dot HClO4).