Influence of HTPB prepolymer on achieved properties of composite solid propellant

Abstract

Changes/variations during manufacturing and storage of free radical-polymerized hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene resin/prepolymer (widely used binder for the composite solid propellants) are not reflected in terms of appreciable change in the hydroxyl value. As a result, cured properties of the propellant mixed using the given formulation finalized by keeping R ratio (NCO/OH ratio) within 0.7–0.9 did not yield predicted mechanical properties. Investigations carried out subsequently, by the authors, identified the root cause to be variations in molecular weight and its distribution, which were not indicated in terms of change in hydroxyl value. Authors confirmed their findings by 1H1NMR studies whereby the variation in molecular weight distribution could be explained in terms of variation in spin–spin relaxation time ( T 2) values.