Evaluation of 4‐(Dimethylsilyl) Butyl Ferrocene Grafted HTPB as a Burning Rate Modifier in Composite Propellant Formulation using Bicurative System

Abstract

AbstractHigh burning rate composite propellants are achieved by incorporation of fine particles of oxidizer, transition metal oxides, and liquid ballistic modifiers. However, they pose processing problems, inertness to the composition and migration related issues. To overcome such problems, an attempt was made to incorporate ferrocenyl grafted HTPB as a burning rate modifier by partly replacing HTPB from 10 % to 50 % using TDI/ IPDI bicurative system and to study their processability in terms of viscosity, mechanical, thermal, sensitivity, and ballistic properties. The data on viscosity reveal that there is a marginal enhancement in end of mix viscosity as percentage of ferrocenyl grafted HTPB increases. The mechanical data reveal that tensile strength and elastic modulus increases, whereas percentage elongation decreases compared to base composition. The results on thermal properties infer that, as the percentage of ferrocenyl grafted HTPB increases, onset decomposition temperature decreases. The impact and friction sensitivity data also envisage that sensitivity increases in comparison to base composition. The data on ballistic properties revealed that there is ca. 53 % increase in burning rate, while decrease in “n” value from 0.39 to 0.2 was obtained compared to base composition.