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Combustion of HTPB Based Solid Fuels Containing Metals and Metal Hydrides with Nitrous Oxide
Author(s) -
Young Gregory,
Risha Grant A.,
Connell Terrence L.,
Yetter Richard A.
Publication year - 2019
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/prep.201800380
Subject(s) - combustion , propellant , specific impulse , solid fuel , differential scanning calorimetry , thermal decomposition , materials science , nitrous oxide , aluminium , oxide , chemistry , metallurgy , inorganic chemistry , organic chemistry , thermodynamics , physics
An experimental investigation of the combustion characteristics of HTPB‐based solid fuels containing aluminum and aluminum hydride has been conducted. Aluminum is commonly used as a fuel supplement in solid rocket propellants because of its ability to increase the specific impulse of a propellant. Similarly, aluminum hydride, or alane, is another attractive fuel supplement because it can significantly (∼7–8 %) increase specific impulse even beyond that of aluminum. In this study, the regression rates of a baseline fuel (pure HTPB) were compared with that of fuels containing either aluminum or alane as additives using a counterflow combustion experiment with nitrous oxide (N 2 O) as the oxidizer. The additives were investigated in concentrations of 10, 20, and 40 % by weight of the fuels. The addition of aluminum at all loadings resullted in a decrease in the regression rate relative to the baseline, whereas the addition of alane resulted in at worst similar regression rates and at best (highest loading) approximately a 20 % increase in regression rate. The decomposition behavior of selected fuels was analyzed using traditional thermal analysis techniques; thermal gravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry