CALORIMETRY OF DOUBLE-BASE PROPELLANTS: AN ACCOUNT OF THE E.R.D.E. PROPELLANT CALORIMETER INSTALLATION AND DETERMINATION OF ENERGY EQUIVALENT

An account is given of a 150 ml bomb calorimeter developed in ERDE and installed in Government propellant factories and Service Inspectorate laboratories for quality control and inspection in double-base propellant manufacture. The preparation of a standard SC (Cordite) propellant and the measurement of its calorimetric value, using the combustion of benzoic acid in oxygen in a stainless steel bomb as standardising reaction, and the determination of the energy equivalent of the calorimeter with normal high-tensile steel bombs using this standard SC propellant are described.