Combustion Characteristics of Composite Solid Propellants Containing Different Coated Aluminum Nanopowders

Abstract

Aluminum nanopowders coated with oleic acid (nmAl+OA), perfluorotetradecanoic acid (nmAl+PA) and nickel acetylacetonate (nmAl+NA) were prepared. The combustion characteristics of hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) composite solid propellants containing different coated aluminum nanpowders were investigated. The result shows that the burning rate of the propellant sample containing nmAl+NA is the highest at different pressure, the maximum burning rate is up to 26.13 mm·s-1at 15 MPa. The burning rates of propellant samples containing nmAl+OA and nmAl+PA are almost the same at different pressures, and higher than the propellant samples containing untreated aluminum nanopowders only at the pressure range of 10 ~ 15 MPa. The flame brightness of different propellants under different pressure is not the same. The flame brightness is increased with the pressure increasing. The flame center zone brightness of the propellant containing nmAl+PA and nmAl+NA is brighter under 4 MPa, and the brightness of nmAl+NA is the brightest. The surface coating of aluminum nanopowder has little effect on the combustion flame temperature of solid propellant. The burning surface temperature increases with the pressure increasing.