Combustion Mechanisms of Solid Propellants

Abstract

A summary report is made of research on the latter phases of this contract, involving mechanisms of propellant combustion. In eight sections, work on the following is reported: (1) Status of understanding; (2) Decomposition of binders as revealed by hot stage microscope studies; (3) Systematic studies of combustion of 'sandwiches' of binder laminae between ammonium perchlorate laminae, with particular emphasis on quench-burning of thin-binder sandwiches; (4) Exploratory tests of combustion of other geometrically simple structures chosen to simulate other aspects of combustion of real propellants; (5) Systematic tests of a family of propellants to provide comparisons with results of tests on ordered structures; (6) development of a new analytical model for burning rate of propellants, based on the idea of determining the least-time- path for burning front to propagate through the microstructure from the burning surface to some relatively distant point in the propellant; (7) Development of a transient analysis of an axially symmetrical diffusion flame analogous to a burning oxidizer particle in a propellant matrix, and demonstration that the steady-state solution to this 'Burke-Schumann'-like problem is not dynamically stable (the complete analysis will be published separately); and (8) A restatement of the initial approach to the statistical model of propellant developed by Glick and Condon (presented to clarify the assumptions and method of the statistical approach).

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1980
Accession Number
ADA091857

Entities

People

  • E. W. Price
  • J. C. Handley
  • R. K. Sigman
  • T. S. Sheshadri
  • W. C. Strahle

Organizations

  • Georgia Tech

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Burning Rate
  • Chemical Reactions
  • Chemistry
  • Combustion
  • Combustion Products
  • Combustors
  • Composite Propellants
  • Condensation Trails
  • Exothermic Reactions
  • Ignition
  • Materials Laboratories
  • Materials Processing
  • Materials Science
  • Materials Testing
  • Microscopes
  • Pyrolysis
  • Solid Propellants

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Rocket Propulsion.
  • Theoretical Analysis.