Studies of Energetic and Non‐Energetic Plasticizers for Nitrile Butadiene Rubber based CSP

Abstract

AbstractBinders with energetic plasticizers besides boosting energy also enhance the structural integrity of the propellant composition. In recent energetic compositions, energetic plasticizers such as NG, BTTN, DEGDN and TEGDN replace conventional plasticizers as they possess positive heat of the explosion and energetic groups in the same molecule. Energetic groups impart enhanced potential for delivering superior performance. In the present paper, a comparative study is done between NBR based composite solid propellant formulations with energetic (DEGDN and TEGDN) and non‐energetic (DAP and DBP) plasticizers. The predicted theoretical performance of non‐aluminized and aluminized propellants shows that DEGDN/TEGDN based propellants are more energetic than that of DAP/DBP propellants. The viscosity (768 Pa.s), density (1748 kg/m3), cal‐val (5426.64 J/g), burning rate (4.21 mm/s) of DBP and DAP based propellants are on the lower side than DEGDN and TEGDN based propellants. End of mix viscosity and burning rate of energetic plasticizer based compositions is approximately twice of the inert plasticizer based compositions. There is up to 60 % increase in TS and modulus while elongation is reduced by 20 %. Pressure index increases from 0.159 to 0.310 for DBP to DEGDN based propellant. The study shows that high performance high burning rate propellant can be designed with DEGDN.