Abstract

An experimental investigation was conducted to characterize the monopropellant droplet combustion of pure and blended isopropyl nitrate (IPN), suspended on quartz fibers in a quiescent atmosphere. The blends were prepared by mixing IPN with less viscous n-heptane in percentages of 10 to 90% by weight of IPN, and highly viscous dibutyl sebacate (DBS), in percentages of 10 to 90% by weight of IPN. Ignition was achieved by using a heated 60 μm nichrome wire. While dependence of pure IPN on initial droplet diameter was investigated in the droplet size range 1 to 2 mm, the blended IPN studies were carried out with initial diameters of 2 mm for IPN-n-heptane blends and 1.5 mm for IPN-DBS blends. The experiments revealed a strong dependence of IPN burning on initial droplet diameters. The IPN-DBS blends were characterized by severe micro-explosions further atomizing the droplet, governed by the preferential diffusion and evaporation of IPN over DBS. Although micro-explosions were conspicuously absent in case of IPN-n-heptane blends due to simultaneous gasification of both components, improvements were observed in mass burning rates of blends under certain conditions.

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