Effect of spherical Al-Mg-Zr on the combustion characteristics of composite propellants

In this work, spherical Al-Mg-Zr alloy with intensive heat release were characterized and compared to neat Al powders. The morphology, element distribution and thermal performance were characterized by TEM, SEM, Mapping and TG-DSC. The laser-induced ignition and combustion characteristics of Al-Mg-Zr alloy powders were performed by microscopic high-speed video-recording. The effect of Al-Mg-Zr on the combustion process of HTPB-based solid propellants were carried out as well. It was observed that, the energy release process of Al-Mg-Zr is accompanied by the phenomena of gas emission and microexplosion, which is useful for improving the combustion efficiency of the alloy and reducing the combustion product particles of solid propellants. The findings in this work validate the potential of Al-Mg-Zr as an additional fuel for high aluminum content solid propellants.