Search

Aluminum (Al) particles are commonly added to energetic materials including propellants, explosives and pyrotechnics to increase the overall energy density of the composite, but aluminum agglomeration on the combustion surface may lower the combustion efficiency of propellants, resulting in a loss in two-phase flow. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the agglomeration mechanism of aluminum particles on the combustion surface. In this paper, a high-pressure sealed combustion chamber is constructed, and high-speed camera is used to capture the whole process of aluminum accumulation, aggregation and agglomeration on the combustion surface, and the secondary agglomeration process near the combustion surface. The microscopic morphology and chemical composition of the condensed combustion products (CCPs) are then studied by using scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive (SEM-EDS) method. Results show that there are three main types of condensed combustion products: small smoke oxide particles oxidized by aluminum vapor, usually less than 1 μm; typical agglomerates formed by the combustion of aluminum agglomerates; carbonized agglomerates that are widely distributed, usually formed by irregular movements of aluminum agglomerates. The particle size of condensed combustion products is measured by laser particle size meter. As the pressure increases from 0.5 MPa to 1.0 MPa in nitrogen, the mass average particle size of aluminum agglomerates decreases by 49.7%. As the ambient gas is changed from 0.5 MPa nitrogen to 0.5 MPa air, the mass average particle size of aluminum agglomerates decreases by 67.3%. Results show that as the ambient pressure increases, the higher oxygen content can improve combustion efficiency and reduce the average agglomeration size of aluminum particles.

Solid propellant combustion and flow are significantly affected by condensed combustion products (CCPs) in solid rocket motors. A new aluminum agglomeration model is established using the discrete element method, considering the burning rate and formulation of the propellant. Combining the aluminum combustion and alumina deposition model, an analytical model of the evolution of CCPs is proposed, capable of predicting the particle-size distribution of completely burned CCPs. The CCPs near and away from the propellant burning surface are collected by a special quench vessel under 6~10 MPa, to verify the applicability of the CCP evolution model. Experimental results show that the predicted error of the proposed CCP evolution model is less than 8.5%. Results are expected to help develop better analytical tools for the combustion of solid propellants and solid rocket motors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy density, which is an important indicator of the performance of solid propellants, is known to increase with the addition of 2,4,6,8,10,12-hexanitro-2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaazaisowurtzitane (CL-20). However, it remains unclear how CL-20 affects the decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP) and energy release. Here, the effects of CL-20 on the combustion performance and agglomeration of propellants were investigated. The addition of CL-20 decreased AP decomposition temperature and the energy required for the transformation of AP crystals from orthorhombic to cubic. The burning rate and pressure exponent of the propellant with 42% CL-20 were significantly higher than those of the propellant containing 20% CL-20. Thus, adding CL-20 to the propellant improves the energy characteristics and burning rate and the pressure exponent increases. At low combustion chamber pressure, the agglomeration of the propellant containing a high content of CL-20 will be blown away from the combustion surface only after staying on that surface for a short time. In this process, the probability of volume growth of the agglomeration after merging with other agglomerations greatly decreases, thus reducing the overall agglomerate particle sizes; further, the addition of a small amount of CL-20 to the propellant may lead to a reduction in agglomerate particle sizes. AP with a smaller particle size weakens the agglomeration in the combustion process and decreases the number of agglomerates with large particle sizes. These findings lay the foundation for the development of novel high-energy propellants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solid propellant combustion and flow are significantly affected by condensed combustion products (CCPs) in solid rocket motors. A new aluminum agglomeration model is established using the discrete element method, considering the burning rate and formulation of the propellant. Combining the aluminum combustion and alumina deposition model, an analytical model of the evolution of CCPs is proposed, capable of predicting the particle-size distribution of completely burned CCPs. The CCPs near and away from the propellant burning surface are collected by a special quench vessel under 6~10 MPa, to verify the applicability of the CCP evolution model. Experimental results show that the predicted error of the proposed CCP evolution model is less than 8.5%. Results are expected to help develop better analytical tools for the combustion of solid propellants and solid rocket motors.

Energy density, which is an important indicator of the performance of solid propellants, is known to increase with the addition of 2,4,6,8,10,12-hexanitro-2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaazaisowurtzitane (CL-20). However, it remains unclear how CL-20 affects the decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP) and energy release. Here, the effects of CL-20 on the combustion performance and agglomeration of propellants were investigated. The addition of CL-20 decreased AP decomposition temperature and the energy required for the transformation of AP crystals from orthorhombic to cubic. The burning rate and pressure exponent of the propellant with 42% CL-20 were significantly higher than those of the propellant containing 20% CL-20. Thus, adding CL-20 to the propellant improves the energy characteristics and burning rate and the pressure exponent increases. At low combustion chamber pressure, the agglomeration of the propellant containing a high content of CL-20 will be blown away from the combustion surface only after staying on that surface for a short time. In this process, the probability of volume growth of the agglomeration after merging with other agglomerations greatly decreases, thus reducing the overall agglomerate particle sizes; further, the addition of a small amount of CL-20 to the propellant may lead to a reduction in agglomerate particle sizes. AP with a smaller particle size weakens the agglomeration in the combustion process and decreases the number of agglomerates with large particle sizes. These findings lay the foundation for the development of novel high-energy propellants.

Copyright of Chinese Journal of Explosives & Propellants is the property of Chinese Journal of Explosives & Propellants Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Cyclotrimethylene trinitramine (RDX) is widely used in aluminized solid propellants to increase specific impulse. Experimental investigations on the effect of RDX content on the propellant combustion and agglomeration were thoroughly conducted based on Thermogravimetry-differential scanning calorimetry, laser ignition, combustion diagnosis and a new home-made condensed combustion products (CCPs) collection device. The results show RDX inclusion inhibits the decomposition of AP. The ignition delay and self-sustaining combustion time of aluminized propellant increase, while the combustion intensity decreases with increasing RDX content. RDX addition is found to decrease the burning rate within 6–10 MPa. Compared with the baseline propellant, RDX leads to obvious aggravation of aluminum agglomeration on the propellant burning surface. The 6 wt% and 12 wt% RDX-included propellants increase the average CCPs size from 46.3 μm to 86.7 μm and 96.6 μm, respectively. The combustion efficiency of aluminum in propellant is reduced by 15% when the RDX content is increased from 0 to 12%. Overall, RDX plays a comprehensive effect on the ignition, combustion and agglomeration characteristics of aluminized propellant. Results of this study can help guide the application and development of RDX in aluminized propellants for solid rocket motors. • A new device was developed to collect the CCPs of aluminized propellant. • The effects of RDX content on propellant agglomeration and combustion were studied. • 12% RDX addition leads to 109% increase in the CCPs size. • Detailed mechanism of RDX on propellant combustion and agglomeration was proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the results of measurement of the burning rate of aluminized composite solid propellants (CSPs) and parameters of sampled condensed combustion products including their particle size distribution, chemical and phase composition. Effect of ultra-fine iron and amorphous boron additives in CSP formulations based on AP, butadiene rubber and Alex (2 wt. %) on the combustion characteristics was studied. The sampled particles of condensed combustion products (CCPs) were classified as oxide particles (less than 55 µm) and agglomerate particles (up to 500 µm). The CCPs particles were subjected to morphological, particle size, chemical and phase analyses. It was found that partial replacement of Alex by 2 wt. % of iron in CSP leads to 1.3-1.4 fold increase in the burning rate in the pressure range of 2.2-7.5 MPa. At the same time the agglomeration of metal fuel is slightly increased: the mean diameter of agglomerate particles in CCPs is increased up to 1.2 fold and their content is increased up to 1.4 fold. The content and mean diameter of oxide particles in CCPs are reduced by 16 % and 13 %, respectively. Upon partial replacement of Alex by 2 wt. % of boron the burning rate is practically unchanged as compared with that for basic propellant with Alex. However the agglomeration is significantly enhanced, which is manifested at the increase in the agglomerate particles content in CCPs by 1.8-2.2 times, increase by 1.6-1.7 times in the agglomerates mean diameter and increase in the unburned metal fraction in agglomerates by 1.6-1.9 times. The content and the mean diameter of the oxide particles are reduced more significantly than in the case of iron introduction, namely, by 20-30 % and 30-40 %, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyclotetramethylene tetranitramine (HMX) is usually added to solid propellants, but the inclusion of HMX significantly affects the propellant combustion characteristics, especially by yielding more condensed combustion products (CCPs). The effect of HMX size on aluminum agglomeration and CCPs of hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB)-based propellant is evaluated experimentally in this paper. Using a thermogravimetry–differential scanning calorimeter, laser ignition setup, and high-pressure combustion bomb, we have examined the propellants' thermal reactivity, ignition behavior, combustion characteristics, agglomeration, and CCPs with 10–200 μm virgin HMX particles. The results indicate that HMX in propellant suppresses the pyrolysis reaction of ammonium perchlorate. Meanwhile, the exothermic peak temperature of 200 μm HMX increases by 17.8 °C compared to 10 μm HMX. With the increase of HMX size from 10 μm to 200 μm, the combustion intensity of the propellant increases, and the ignition delay time of aluminum particles decreases from 580.6 ms to 498.3 ms. Increasing HMX size leads to an increased burning rate, while the pressure exponent decreases from 0.34 to 0.23. Including HMX in propellants also promotes aluminum agglomeration during propellant combustion. With HMX size expanding from 10 μm to 200 μm, the mean agglomerate size in the CCPs decreases from 221.9 μm to 124.5 μm, and the fraction of aluminum involved in agglomeration decreases from 0.206 to 0.104. The unburned aluminum content in agglomerated particles increases monotonically with increasing agglomerates size. Overall, HMX size has a significant impact on the ignition, combustion, and agglomeration characteristics of aluminized propellant. The conclusions of the paper can be used as a guidance for optimizing the propellant formulation [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigate the aluminum agglomeration characteristics in hydroxyl‑terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) and nitrate ester plasticized polyether (NEPE) propellants during combustion. Based on thermogravimetric-differential scanning calorimetry (TG-DSC), sample quenching, microscope diagnoses, and collection of condensed combustion product, the effects of oxidants and binders on the thermal decomposition and surface characteristics of quenched samples, and combustion and agglomeration characteristics of propellants were analyzed. The Al/AP/HTPB composite has a one-step exothermic process with a heat of 1723 J·g−1, which is divided into two exothermic reactions with the addition of hexogen (RDX), with the first heat release being only 102.8 J·g−1. The first heat release of NEPE propellant is 1059 J·g−1, while CL-20 reduces it to only 520.5 J·g−1. At 14 MPa, the agglomerated peak particle size of AP/HTPB propellant is the smallest (50 µm), and the agglomerated particle size of AP/RDX/HTPB is 63 µm. The aggregation peak particle size of HMX/AP/NEPE propellant is 56 µm at 14 MPa, and the aggregation peak particle size of CL-20/HMX/AP/NEPE propellant is the largest among all samples (79 µm). The agglomeration of the two propellants is all controlled by the characteristics of the melting layer on the burning surface. The existence of pockets composed by large particle ammonium perchlorate (AP) in HTPB propellant also plays an important role in the agglomeration process of aluminum particles, which is different from NEPE propellant. The decomposition of melted binder leads to the accumulation of unlighted aluminum particles, and the size of agglomerates is mainly affected by the accumulation process. The distributed heat of different kinds of oxidants during propellant combustion may lead to the rapid decomposition of the binder before aluminum ignition, leading to the aggravation of the accumulation process and the increase of the agglomerated particle size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In solid propellants, aluminum is widely used to improve the performance, however the condensed combustion products especially the large agglomerates generated from aluminum combustion significantly affect the combustion and internal flow inside the solid rocket motor. To clarify the properties of the condensed combustion products of aluminized propellants, a constant-pressure quench vessel was adopted to collect the combustion products. The morphology and chemical compositions of the collected products, were then studied by using scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive (SEM-EDS) method. Various structures have been observed in the condensed combustion products. Apart from the typical agglomerates or smoke oxide particles observed before, new structures including the smoke oxide clusters, irregular agglomerates and carbon-inclusions are discovered and investigated. Smoke oxide particles have the highest amount in the products. The highly dispersed oxide particle is spherical with very smooth surface and is on the order of 1–2 µm, but due to the high temperature and long residence time, these small particles will aggregate into smoke oxide clusters which are much larger than the initial particles. Three types of spherical agglomerates have been found. As the ambient gas temperature is much higher than the boiling point of Al 2 O 3 , the condensation layer inside which the aluminum drop is burning would evaporate quickly, which result in the fact that few “hollow agglomerates” has been found compared to “cap agglomerates” and “solid agglomerates”. Irregular agglomerates usually larger than spherical agglomerates. The formation of irregular agglomerates likely happens by three stages: deformation of spherical aluminum drops; combination of particles with various shape; finally production of irregular agglomerates. EDS results show the ratio of O to Al on the surface of agglomerates is lower in comparison to smoke oxide particles. C and O account for most element compositions for all the carbon inclusions. The rough, spherical, strip shape and flake shape carbon-inclusions are believed to be derived from the degradation products of the binder or oxidizer, while the fiber silk is possibly the combustion product of fiber inside the heat insulation layer of the propellants. Images of products at different pressures reveal high pressure reduces the degree of agglomeration. The chemical compositions, size range and content of all the observed structures are given in this paper. Results of our study are expected to provide better insight in the working process of solid rocket motor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The combustion characteristics of propellants containing AP, HMX, an energetic binder, and aluminum particles with various polymer coatings are studied at pressures of 0.15 and 4.6 MPa. It is found that the coatings influence the burning rate, the particle size distribution of condensed combustion products, and the completeness of aluminum combustion. It is shown that the agglomeration can be reduced by using aluminum with fluorine-containing coatings. The application of some coatings results in a reduction in the mass of the agglomerates with an insignificant increase in their size. The greatest effect was achieved when using aluminum coated with (CH2=CH-CH2-O)2Si[OCH2(CF2-CF2)2H]2 [bis(allyloxy)-bis(2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5-octafluoropentyloxy)silane]. For this coating, a size reduction is also observed for micron-size oxide particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The condensed combustion products of two model propellants consisting of ammonium perchlorate, aluminum, nitramine, and an energetic binder were studied by a sampling method. One of the propellants contained HMX with a particle size D 10 ≈ 490 µm, and the other RDX with a particle size D 10 ≈ 380 µm. The particle-size distribution and the content of metallic aluminum in particles of condensed combustion products with a particle size of 1.2 µm to the maximum particle size in the pressure range of 0.1–6.5 MPa were determined with variation in the particle quenching distance from the burning surface to 100 mm. For agglomerates, dependences of the incompleteness of aluminum combustion on the residence time in the propellant flame were obtained. The RDX-based propellant is characterized by more severe agglomeration than the HMX-based propellant — the agglomerate size and mass are larger and the aluminum burnout proceeds more slowly. The ratio of the mass of the oxide accumulated on the agglomerates to the total mass of the oxide formed is determined. The agglomerate size is shown to be the main physical factor that governs the accumulation of the oxide on the burning agglomerate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The condensed combustion products (CCPs) of solid propellants significantly affect the combustion and internal flow inside the solid rocket motor. A constant-pressure quench vessel was used to collect the condensed combustion products of an aluminized glycidyl azide polymer (GAP)-based propellant. The effects of freezing medium, quench distance, chamber pressure (5∼9 MPa) and virgin aluminum size (13∼40 μm) on the physicochemical properties of the condensed combustion products were studied. The typical size distribution of the condensed combustion products is in three modes, 1∼2 μm, 20∼30 μm, ∼300 μm and their sizes vary from 0.3 to 600 μm, corresponding to smoke oxide particles and agglomerates. Freezing medium is found to have little impact on the particle size, while the agglomeration ratio in water is larger than nitrogen and argon. In contrast to the freezing medium, pressure does affect the size of CCPs, but has little effect on the agglomeration ratio. Quench distance has no significant effect on the particle size. Agglomeration is found to increase first and then decreases with the increase of virgin aluminum size. The influence mechanism of freezing medium and virgin aluminum size on CCPs is proposed. The combustion-agglomeration map is particularly obtained, which shows that freezing medium and virgin aluminum particle size have more profound influence on the agglomeration than quench distance and pressure. The low-pressure condition presents poorest performance with high fraction of agglomerates, large agglomerate size and low combustion efficiency. Results of this work are expected to provide better insight in the combustion of solid propellant and solid rocket motor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]