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Electrical Sensitization Studies in the Initiation of Liquid Propellant 1846
Author(s) -
Sturman Philip C.,
Woodmansee Donald E.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
propellants, explosives, pyrotechnics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.56
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1521-4087
pISSN - 0721-3115
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1521-4087(199802)23:1<01::aid-prep1>3.0.co;2-p
Subject(s) - conditioning , propellant , chemistry , electrode , anode , ignition system , analytical chemistry (journal) , materials science , physics , thermodynamics , chromatography , statistics , mathematics , organic chemistry
Ignition of LGP1846(an aqueous mixture of ammonium and hydroxyl ammonium nitrates) was induced electrically in a laboratory cell to determine whether electrode damage from igniting arcs can be reduced by conditioning the propellant electrically immediately prior to ignition. The conditioning profiles included DC and pulsing potentials from 40 to 900 volt over periods of 0.2 to 2 milliseconds prior to delivery of the initiating pulse. Analysis of pulse ignitions(no conditioning) indicate that a large sorption of energy was required with arc formation for the most reliable ignition behavior. Low potential currents were found to be limited by the propellant when using a small anodic electrode area. Reversing the polarity allowed larger conditioning charge flows, but the subsequent ignition energies were not found to be reduced in spite of this improvement. Conditioning was found to decrease the probability of vigorous reaction in some cases. Several electrode materials were studied; one composition was found to be superior in resistance to arc damage.