Study of Different Al/Mg Powders in Hydroreactive Fuel Propellant Used for Water Ramjet

Abstract

Experiments were conducted to study the effect of magnesium–aluminum alloy on the combustion performance of hydroreactive fuel propellants. The raw metal powders added to the propellants were ball-milled magnesium–50% aluminum alloy (m-AM), magnesium–50% aluminum alloy (AM), and Al and magnesium (Mg) powders, which were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and simultaneous thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). A high-pressure combustor and a metal/steam reactor were used to simulate the two-stage combustion of hydroreactive propellants used for a water ramjet. The combustion performance of the metal powders in propellant was studied experimentally, and the efficiency of the Al reaction in the propellants during the two-stage combustion was calculated. TGA traces in air indicated that the oxidation onset temperature of AM powders is much lower than for both Mg and Al powders. The XRD patterns for the AM and m-AM alloys exhibited Al12Mg17 diffraction peaks. The hydroreactive fuel propellant systems with added m-AM powder exhibited good performance in terms of burning rate, combustion heat, and the Al reaction efficiency, which was better than that for the propellants containing AM, Mg, and Al powders. At the pressure studied (3.0 MPa), the burning rate of the m-AM-containing propellant was found to be 15 mm s−1, and the heat of primary combustion was 6,878.1 kJ kg−1.