A Study of a Novel Additive for HTPB Propellant

Abstract

Experimental studies were conducted to define the utility regimes of graphite linters (chopped graphite fiber ranging from 50 to 200 micrometers) with respect to burn rate augmentation, acoustic stabilization and processing improvement in HTPB composite propellant. Linter utility regimes were defined with respect to burn rate reproducibility where the usable propellant compositional range was shown to increase as overall coarseness of the AP solids distribution increased. T-burner tests showed that linters afforded approximately the same amount of acoustic damping as zirconium carbide at a frequency of 1000 Hz. However, at 3800 Hz, 200 micrometers linters provided damping on the order of 100/sec at the 3% level. Processing improvements were demonstrated at constant burn rate by replacing a 0.7 micrometers fine AP fraction with 2 micrometers AP and graphite linters.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 1976
Accession Number
ADA028850

Entities

People

  • A. G. Butcher
  • J. P. Peterson
  • M. W. Beckstead

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Burning Rate
  • Combustion
  • Composite Propellants
  • Fuel Additives
  • Geometry
  • Heat Transfer
  • Hydroxyl Terminated Polybutadiene
  • Materials Laboratories
  • Measurement
  • Mechanical Properties
  • Motion Pictures
  • Particle Size
  • Photographs
  • Photography
  • Propellant Grains
  • Solid Propellants
  • Tensile Strength

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aquatic Ecology
  • Reinforced Composite Materials
  • Rocket Propulsion.