Combustion characteristics of GAP-coated boron particles and the fuel-rich solid propellant

Abstract

A process was employed that permits the coating of energetic glycidyl azide polymer (GAP) on the boron surface. Ignition and combustion behavior of single particle pure crystalline boron and GAP-coated boron at atmospheric pressure was studied experimentally by injecting the particles into the stream of hot gaseous environment of a flat-flame burner using premixed propane-oxygen-nitrogen gases. Chopped streak photographic observation was used to measure the ignition and combustion time. The flame temperature was fixed around 2343 K, but under wider O 2 level range than previous investigations. Measurement results show that GAP coating can shorten boron particle ignition delay time, however, the effect diminishes as the O 2 level in combustion gas decreases. Possible mechanisms based on relevant reactions and heat effects were proposed. Combustion characteristics of fuel-rich solid propellants based on GAP-coated amorphous boron particles and uncoated ones were compared using different techniques such as combustion phenomena observations by a windowed strand burner, quenched propellant surface morphology analysis by scanning electron microscope, and combustion residues size analysis from the quenched particle collection bomb experiments. It was concluded that GAP-coated amorphous-boron-based fuel-rich propellants exhibit more vigorous combustion phenomena, higher burning rates, and a lesser extent of residue agglomeration than the uncoated baseline propellant. Moreover, reaction mechanisms were proposed to elucidate the combustion products obtained in this study.