An alternative approach to improve burning rate characteristics and processing parameters of composite propellant

Abstract

Modification in burn rate of composite solid propellant has become a necessity of a mission. Burn rate can be modified by various mean viz. (i) tailoring the ammonium perchlorate (AP) particle size, (ii) use of nano-sized particles and (iii) incorporating burn rate modifiers. Literature discusses about various burn rate modifiers. Out of these, Iron oxide (Fe2O3)/IO is the well known burn rate enhancer. Here a systematic study was carried out by undertaking experiments at varying levels of IO in composite propellant compositions. This paper attempts to understand the effect of IO content and its specific surface area on burn rate characteristics of composite propellant. This study also attempts to find out alternative to ultrafine AP and nano burn rate enhancer to account for high burning rate of composite propellant along with reduced slurry viscosity and longer pot life for easy processing. As ultrafine AP and nano burn rate enhancers have their limitations in terms of (i) high end of mix (EOM) propellant slurry viscosity, (ii) difficulty in propellant processing, (iii) less reproducibility in attaining the similar particle size in each batch results in lesser repeatability in ballistic properties of propellant, (iv) hazards involved in size reduction, (v) limitations in handling, storage and shelf life and also (vi) the higher cost of nano particles. Therefore an extensive experimental study was performed to achieve this objective. In this study, we incorporated two different grades of IO(A) and IO (B) in composite propellant compositions. The average particle size of both grades of IO i.e., A and B are of ∼1 µm. But the specific surface area of IO (B) was about 15 times more than IO (A). The large difference in specific surface area of both IO was due to difference in the manufacturing process. During the manufacturing of IO, the calcination temperature plays very important role in deciding the specific surface area. High specific surface area is obtained if calcination is done at very high temperature (>1773 K). Burning rate measurements were carried out. It was observed that IO is a good burn rate enhancer. Initially, the burn rate increased with the increase in % of IO. But after that only a marginal enhancement in burn rate was observed. It was noticed that though both grades of IO are effective burn rate enhancer but IO(B) was 30% more effective than IO(A). Also it was found that IO(B) is an alternative to ultrafine AP and nano burn rate modifiers. This IO(B) was further used to develop the propellant compositions with high burn rate without incorporating ultrafine AP and nano particles. Viscosity measurement and mechanical properties determination revealed that both the IOs did not much adversely alter the processing characteristics and mechanical properties of propellant.