1. Performance of solid propellants containing metal additives
- Author
-
Henry Cheung and Norman S. Cohen
- Subjects
Propellant ,Materials science ,business.product_category ,Nozzle ,Condensation ,Oxide ,Aerospace Engineering ,Combustion ,complex mixtures ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Chemical engineering ,chemistry ,Rocket ,Particle size ,Ammonium perchlorate composite propellant ,business - Abstract
Test firings of solid propellant research rockets were made to study effects of propellant composition, pressure, and engine size on the exhaust oxide particle size, and on the composition of the solid exhaust products. The experimental results of this work and those reported by others were analyzed collectively to provide a reasonable description of the aluminum combustion and oxide condensation processes in solid propellant rocket motors. Combustion of aluminum was found to occur in the vapor phase, and was essentially complete in the engines studied although some combustion took place in the nozzle. The experimental results indicate that condensation of the oxide vapor can be described by first-order chemical kinetics. Further particle growth by agglomeration appears likely. The effect of two phase flow was found to be significant in the motors tested and reached a maximum in motors of a certain size. In motors where this loss is large, significant improvement in delivered performance can be realized by reducing the aluminum content.
- Published
- 1965