CFVGBH NJ

International Journal of Mechanical And Production Engineering, ISSN: 2320-2092, Volume- 5, Issue-1, Jan.
-2017
http://iraj.in
DEVELOPMENT OF ALUMINIZED AND NONALUMINIZED
COMPOSITE SOLID PROPELLANTS WITH LOW PRESSURE INDEX
1
MANUPRASAD.E.S, 2S.R.CHAKRAVARTHY
1,2
Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Madras
E-mail: 1manuprasades@gmail.com, 2src@ae.iitm.ac.in
Abstract- Minimizing the pressure index of a composite solid propellant is of prime importance as far as the
stability of solid rocket motor is concerned. Aluminized and non-aluminized propellants of different
formulations are tested in window bomb and the burning rates are analyzed. A constant burning rate is obtained
in the pressure range 60-80 bars for the propellants with low fine AP/binder ratio, ultrafine AP and cured by
IPDI. This is termed as plateau burning and the pressure index is found to be minimal in the corresponding
pressure range.
Keywords- Mid-pressure extinction, Pressure index, Plateau burning
I. INTRODUCTION matrices. The propellants with same fine AP/ binder

ratio, fine AP particle size, and curing agent have the
The high thrust provided by the solid propellants plateau burning trends in certain pressure ranges. The
makes it prefer over any other propulsion system for prime objective of this work is to develop aluminized
a space launch vehicle. It is desirable to minimize the and non-aluminized plateau burning propellants and
pressure index of a solid propellant to attain to establish their corresponding plateau burning
combustion stability. The burning rate of a solid pressure ranges.
propellant is given by,
ṙ = aP II. EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS
where a is a constant, P is the chamber pressure, and
n is the pressure index. If n is zero, then the burning 2.1Propellant ingredients
rate is independent of chamber pressure and equals All the six kinds of propellants tested are consist of
to a, i.e., the burning rate is unaltered by the chamber Hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) as the
pressure variations and remains the same for a range pre-polymer(fuel), Ammonium perchlorate (AP) as
of pressures, which is called plateau burning. oxidizer, Dioctyl Adipate (DOA) as plasticizer,
Typical launch vehicles use solid rocket Toluene Di-Isocynate (TDI) or Isoprene Di-Isocynate
motors that contain composite solid propellants made (IPDI) as curing agent, Ambilink as cross linking
up of ammonium perchlorate (AP) as oxidizer, and agent, Nonax-D as antioxidant agent and Al as
aluminium metal powder and a hydrocarbon metallic fuel in aluminized formulations.
polymeric binder as fuel ingredients, besides other
minor additives. In order to maximize the solid 2.2Propellant formulations
loading of the propellant, and hence its density, a Different formulations of non-aluminized, aluminized
bimodal particle size distribution of AP is often used, propellants with 18 micrometer aluminium and 4.5
comprising coarse AP and fine AP fractions. The micrometer aluminium are analyzed in the present
combustion zone of a composite propellant is study. All the formulations have 86% solid loading
complex, consisting of multiple flames such as the and a bimodal AP distribution for effective packing.
monopropellant flame over the coarse AP particles, For TDI cured propellants, the binder consists of
the leading edge of the oxidizer/fuel diffusion flames HTPB: DOA: TDI in the ratio 80:15:5 and for IPDI
over the interfaces between the coarse AP particles cured propellants, the ratio is HTPB: DOA: IPDI =
and the surrounding matrix of fine AP, metal powder, 75.73: 18.39:5.88. The propellant formulations are
and binder with additives, an outer diffusion flame given in table 1.
trailing from the above leading edge flame, and a
canopy premixed flame over the regions of the fine 2.3Window Bomb
AP/binder matrix. It is observed that the interaction The window bomb is a simple technique to measure
between the melt layer of the binder and fine AP the propellant burn rate at different pressures. A
content in the combustion zone is the key factor that propellant sample of dimension 5 mm × 5 mm × 12
leads to plateau burning. If the fine AP particle size mm with inhibited surfaces is burned vertically and
is less than the binder-melt layer thickness, the free the burn rate obtained by analyzing the video frame
movement of fine AP particles will be possible by frame. The main body of this setup is a thick
through the melt layer. This creates local starving of stainless steel cylinder with two optical glass
fine AP, which causes the mid-pressure extinction in windows for illumination and access for
Development of Aluminized and Nonaluminized Composite Solid Propellants With Low Pressure Index
23
International Journal of Mechanical And Production Engineering, ISSN: 2320-2092, Volume- 5, Issue-1, Jan.-2017
http://iraj.in
Table 1. Propellant formulations. III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1Matrices
The matrices of fine AP/Binder ratio from 55/45 to
75/25 are burned in window bomb and the result is
shown in figure 2. These matrices are prepared with
fine AP of size 5-10 micrometer and cured by IPDI.
The matrices 75/25 and 70/30 is burned
completely in all pressures from 20 bars to 70 bars.
The matrix 65/35 is quenched beyond 30 bars. The
matrices 60/40 and 55/45 is started quenching at 30
bar itself. This self-quenching is called the mid-
pressure extinction and it happens primarily due to
the fine AP-Binder melt layer interactions. As we
move from 75/25 to 55/45, the fine AP content
decreases and correspondingly the binder content
increases which make the fine AP movement in
binder melt layer easier and thus the mid-pressure
extinction range is shifting towards left as the plot
proceed to bottom.
camera. The bottom piece has a pedestal to mount the

propellant sample and chamber pressurization hoses.
The cylinder is closed with a top plate where an
exhaust hose and valve are connected to control the
pressure inside the chamber. The high intensity light
from a xenon lamp is sent through the optical
illumination window and the propellant burning video
is captured with a CCD camera through the other
window. The schematic diagram of the window bomb
is shown in figure 1. Figure 2. Matrix burning
The magnification of the camera is calculated by
taking the images of a known distance. Experiments 3.2Propellants
are repeated over different pressures and the burning The propellant burning rates obtained are shown in
rate is plotted against the pressure in a log-log plot. figure 3. The propellants P1, P2, and P3 are not
Thus the pressure index ‘n’ is given by the slope of showing any constant burn rate anywhere in the
the plot. curve. They are propellants with higher fine
AP/binder ratio, comparatively higher fine AP and
cured by TDI. On other hand, the propellants P2, P4
and P6 show a constant burning rate over the pressure
range 60-80. These propellants have lower fine
AP/binder ratio, ultrafine AP and cured by IPDI.
1. Nitrogen cylinder 2.Cylinder valve

3. Pressure gauge 4. Illumination window
5. Window bomb 6.Exhaust valve
7. CCD camera 8.Recorder
9. TV monitor
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of window bomb. Figure 3. Propellant burning rates
24
International Journal of Mechanical And Production Engineering, ISSN: 2320-2092, Volume- 5, Issue-1, Jan.-2017
http://iraj.in
The pressure index obtained for each sections of the REFERENCES
curve is given in table 2.
[1]. G. P. Sutton, Rocket Propulsion Elements, John Wiley, New
Table 2. Pressure range and pressure index York (1992)
[2]. R. L. Foster and R. R. Miller, “The influence of the fine
AP/binder matrix on composite propellant ballistic
properties,” in: Proc. of the 17th JANNAF Combustion
Meeting, Publ. No. 329(3), Chem. Propuls. Inform. Agency,
Laure (1980), pp. 91–104.
[3]. J. P. Renie, J. A. Condon, and J. R. Osborn, “Oxidizer size
distribution effects on propellant combustion,” AIAA J., 17,
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[4]. C. W. Fong and R. F. Smith, “The relationship between
plateau burning behavior and ammonium perchlorate particle
size in HTPB–AP composite propellant,” Combust.Flame,
67, 235–247 (1987).
[5]. S. R. Chakravarthy, E. W. Price, and R. K. Sigman, “Binder
melt flow effects in the combustion of AP–HC composite
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Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, AIAA Paper No. 95-
2710, San Diego (1995).
[6]. S. R. Chakravarthy, J. M. Seitzman, E. W. Price, and R. K.
Sigman, “Intermittent burning of ammonium perchlorate–
hydrocarbon binder monomodal matrixes, sandwiches, and
propellants,” J. Propuls. Power, 20, No. 1, 101–109 (2004).
[7]. S. R. Chakravarthy, E. W. Price, R. K. Sigman, andJ. M.
Seitzman, “Plateau burning behavior of ammonium
perchlorate sandwiches and propellants at elevated
CONCLUSIONS pressures,” J. Propuls. Power, 19, No. 1, 56–65 (2003).
[8]. E. K. Bastress, “Modification of the burning rates of
The plateau burning behavior of different propellants ammonium perchlorate solid propellants by particle size,” Ph.
D. Thesis, Princeton Univ., Princeton (1961).
is analyzed and the major conclusions are as follows. [9]. J. A. Steinz, P. L. Stang, and M. Summerfield, “Effects of
1. The mid-pressure extinction is observed even in oxidizer particle size on composite solid propellant burning:
low pressure regions while the fine AP/binder ratio Normal burning, plateau burning, and intermediate pressure
decreases extinction,” Aerospace and Mech. Sci. Report No. 810,
Guggenheim Laboratories for Aerospace Propulsion
2. A combination of low fine AP/binder ratio, very Sciences, Princeton Univ., Princeton (1967).
low micron fine AP and IPDI will yield constant burn [10]. S. Banerjee and S. R. Chakravarthy, “Ammonium
rate in higher pressure range. The plateau burning Perchlorate-Based Composite Solid Propellant Formulations
pressure range is obtained as 60-80 bar. with Plateau Burning Rate Trends”, Combustion, Explosion,
and Shock Waves, Vol. 43, No. 4, pp. 435–441, 2007.
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International Journal of Mechanical And Production Engineering, ISSN: 2320-2092, Volume- 5, Issue-1, Jan.

Keywords- Mid-pressure extinction, Pressure index, Plateau burning

I. INTRODUCTION matrices. The propellants with same fine AP/ binder

camera. The bottom piece has a pedestal to mount the

1. Nitrogen cylinder 2.Cylinder valve

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