TITLE:
Studies on the Internal Ballistics of Composite Solid Rocket Propellants Incorporating Nano-Structured Catalysts
AUTHORS:
Mukesh R., Sivasubramaniyam R., Elangovan R. R., Abhinaya Sree R., Harish R., Rajashree D., Satish Kumar Kanhar
KEYWORDS:
Ammonium Perchlorate, Dioctyladipate, Hydroxyl Terminated
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Aerospace Science and Technology,
Vol.2 No.4,
December
19,
2017
ABSTRACT:
This paper deals with the analysis of burn rate using various catalysts of Iron
Oxide and determining which gives the higher burn rate with low pressure
variation. The Ammonium Perchlorate (AP) was obtained and ground into
fine powder with the particle size ranging from 63 to 125 μm. The propellant
strands were prepared with proportions by mixing AP with the binder (Hydroxyl
Terminated Polybutadiene), the catalyst (Iron Oxide), curing agent
(Isophorone diisocyanate) and the plasticizer (Dioctyladipate). The prepared
propellant mixture was cured at around 63 deg C to get various propellant
strands. The first strand was prepared with the absence of a catalyst to set an
initial base of comparison with other Iron Oxide catalysts, namely, Flower
Shaped, Micro and Nano, based on the size of the particles. The combustion
process was carried out in a strand burner, which was in turn connected to a
data acquisition system. The obtained output was analysed in the form of
graphs. The burn rate was achieved by calculating the slope of the graph i.e . by
calculating the difference between the highest and the lowest peak of the
graph and dividing the total time by the answer. The experiment was repeated
with the different catalyst types, as mentioned above, at different pressures. It
was observed that the Nano shaped Iron Oxide exhibits better burning characteristics
when compared to the rest with the pressure index of 0.792. In this
paper, the various experiments carried out along with their procedures are explained
in detail. The results obtained and the techniques used are also elaborately
described in this paper.