In situ construction of graphene oxide-MoS2-CuO nanocomposite via hydrothermal synthesis as the combustion catalyst in AP/HTPB propellant

Abstract

In this work, a novel CuO-based nanocomposite was successfully prepared by hydrothermal method. The results of FT-IR, XRD, XPS and SEM indicated that the nano CuO was successfully loaded on GO/MoS2 sheets. The catalytic ability of the CuO-based composite was researched by the AP thermal decomposition behavior and the combustion behavior of AP/HTPB. The CuO-based composite could significantly enhance the AP thermal decomposition performance through decreasing the activation energy of AP during the thermal decomposition process. Especially for CuO(90)@MG(10), the AP thermal decomposition temperature was reduced from 437.5 to 334.9 °C and the heat release increased from 396.7 to 1576.8 J/g by adding 4% of the CuO-based nanocomposite. After adding the CuO-based nanocomposite, the ignition delay time of AP/HTPB solid propellant decreased obviously from 0.346 s to 0.109 s with a higher flame height and a stronger flame brightness during the combustion process, indicating that the CuO-based nanocomposite could effectively promote the combustion behavior of AP/HTPB composite solid propellant. In summary, the CuO-based nanocomposite could be applied as an excellent catalyst for improving AP thermal decomposition and a combustion catalyst for AP-based composite solid propellants.