Catalysis and inhibition of the combustion of ammonium perchlorate based solid propellants

Abstract

Results of studies of the combustion of a composite solid propellant based on ammonium perchlorate are presented. The effect of additives of metal oxides is studied for the high and low-temperature decompositions, linear pyrolysis, and combustion of ammonium perchlorate, the decomposition of HClO4, isobutylene oxidation by oxygen and perchloric acid, and the combustion of propellants with various organic combustibles. It is shown that the efficiency of metal oxides in the reactions of oxidation of isobutylene and propellant combustion is related to the energy of the Me—O bond in the surface oxide layer or the enthalpy of formation of this bond. The extremal nature of the catalytic effect of metal oxides on the burning rate of the propellant is due to the small time of residence of the oxide particles in the zone of intense oxidation-reduction reactions. For this reason, the same additives of metal oxides has different effects on the combustion of the propellant with different organic, combustibles, and the most efficient catalyst can be chosen by a simplified algorithm. The potentials for affecting the composite solid propellant via gas-phase oxidation-reduction reactions is indicated by the effect of additives of organic sources of active species—amines and halides.