Preparative and mechanistic studies on unsymmetrical Dimethyl Hydrazine‐Red Fuming Nitric Acid Liquid Propellant Gels

Abstract

AbstractThixotropic gels of unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine (UDMH) have been prepared using methyl cellulose (4.48 wt%) and agar‐agar (0.64 wt%) chemical gelling agents. Red fuming nitric acid has been gelled by using sodium silicate (4.25 wt%).The effect of various parameters like size of container, particle size of gellants and temperature on gellation time of UDMH gelled system has been investigated. The gellation time of UDMH gel is found to increase with the increase in the internal diameter of the container. Gellation time is found to show direct proportionality with the particle size when methyl cellulose is used as gellant. In case of methyl cellulose, the gellation occurs quickly at higher temperature whereas the reverse trend is observed when agar‐agar gellant is used.In order to boost the performance of liquid propellants, the metallized gels of UDMH containing Al (10‐40 wt%) and Mg (10‐25 wt%) metal powders have been prepared. The density measurements of virgin and metallized gels reveal that there is a maximum gain of 46.72% and 19.3% over virgin gels on incorporation of Al and Mg powders respectively.Efforts have been made to understand the process of gellation using optical and photomicrographic techniques.