Application of Ultrasonic Technique for Measurement of Instantaneous Burn Rate of Solid Propellants .

Abstract

The ultrasonic pulse-echo technique has been applied for the measurement of instantaneous burnrate of aluminised composite solid propellants. The tests have been carried out on end-burning 30 mmthick propellant specimens at nearly constant pressure of about 1.9 MPa. Necessary software forpost-test data processing and instantaneous burn rate computations have been developed. The burnrates measured by the ultrasonic technique have been compared with those obtained from ballisticevaluation motor tests on propellant from the same mix. An accuracy of about +- 1 per cent ininstantaneous burn rate measurements and reproducibility of results have been demonstrated byapplying ultrasonic technique.