Relationship between molecular structure and pyrolysis performance for high-energy-density fuels

Abstract

High-energy-density endothermic hydrocarbon fuels (HDEHFs) are the ideal on-board coolants for the thermal management of advanced aircrafts. However, the pyrolysis performace of high-energy-density (HED) fuels with different molecular structures remains ambiguous. Herein, we investigated the pyrolysis performance of five HED fuels with different cyclic structures, i.e., bicyclohexyl (BCH), perhydrofluorene (PHF), decahydronaphthalene (DHN), exo-tetrahydrodicyclopentadiene (exo-THD) and cyclopropyl-tetrahydrodicyclopentadiene (CTHD), to reveal the molecular structure-reactivity relationship. The pyrolysis conversion (650 °C, 4 MPa) of the tested fuels is in the order of CTHD > PHF > BCH > DHN > exo-THD, which is highly associated with their C + H atom numbers, nH+C (except for CTHD with high-tension ring). With the analysis of product distribution as well as DFT calculation, the decomposition reaction pathways of the fuels were proposed. The heat sink of the fuels follows the order of BCH > PHF > DHN > exo-THD > CTHD, which is closely correlated with nH/C6.9 × nH+C3.8. Meanwhile, the fitting results between molecular structures and physicochemical properties of the fuels were also demonstrated. This study could provide a guidance on the design and development of HDEHFs fuels for the high-performance aerospace vehicles with long flight distance and hypersonic speed.