Abstract
Titanate-based bonding agents are a class of efficient bonding agents for improving the mechanical properties of composite solid propellants, a kind of special composite material. However, high solid contents often deteriorate the rheological properties of propellant slurry, which limits the application of bonding agents. To solve this problem, a series of long-chain alkyl chelated titanate binders, N-n-octyl-N, N-dihydroxyethyl-lactic acid-titanate (DLT-8), N-n-dodecyl-N, N-dihydroxyethyl-lactic acid-titanate (DLT-12), N-n-hexadecyl-N, N-Dihydroxyethyl-lactic acid-titanate (DLT-16), were designed and synthesized in the present work. The infrared absorption spectral changes of solid propellants caused by binder coating and adhesion degrees of the bonding agents on the oxidant surface were determined by micro-infrared microscopy (MIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively, to characterize the interaction properties of the bonding agents with oxidants, ammonium perchlorate (AP) and hexogen (RDX), in solid propellants. The further application tests suggest that the bonding agents can effectively interact with the oxidants and effectively improve the mechanical and rheological properties of the four-component hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) composite solid propellants containing AP and RDX. The agent with longer bond chain length can improve the rheological properties of the propellant slurry more significantly, and the propellant of the best mechanical properties was obtained with DLT-12, consistent with the conclusion obtained in the interfacial interaction study. Our work has provided a new method for simultaneously improving the processing performance and rheological properties of propellants and offered an important guidance for the bonding agent design.
Highlights
Solid propellant, a kind of special composite material, is an important energy source for rockets, missiles and weapons [1,2]
Of Bonding Agents structure of DLT-8, ofDLT-12, and DLT-16 were characterized by 1H-NMR spectroscopy
The interfacial interactions of the bonding agents with ammonium perchlorate (AP) and RDX were studied by MIR and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)
Summary
A kind of special composite material, is an important energy source for rockets, missiles and weapons [1,2]. Allen [14] applied the n-butyl titanate (TBA)-based bonding agents to thermoplastic propellants formulated with styrene-diene block copolymers and naphthenic oil as the binder and AP as the oxidant. They found that both high and low temperature mechanical properties of the propellants were greatly improved. Designing dual-functional additives that can bring the ideal mechanic properties, processing adjustment and good energy performance to solid propellants simultaneously is urgently needed. Our study aimed to develop a dual-functional titanate bonding agent that improves both bonding and processing performances of propellant simultaneously. Our work is of great guiding value to explore new methods for developing dual-functional titanate bonding agents that can simultaneously improve the processing and rheological properties of propellants
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