Techniques for Measurement of Work Input During Gun Propellant Processing

Abstract

In processing gun propellant it is important to measure the viscous load at the mixer blades, and the work input by the roll mill to achieve quality and reproducibility of propellant material. This report outlines the instrumentation developed for measurements of work input on the sigma bladed mixers and roll mill situated at the Processing Development Area, Propulsion and Ballistics Division of Weapons Systems Research Laboratory. Gun propellants can be sub-divided into single base, double base, triple base, lova and nitramine propellants. The processing of these propellants for use in gun ammunition is carried out in seven major unit operations, namely de-hydration, incorporation, maceration, blocking, extrusion, granulation and finishing. The incorporating stage of gun propellant processing includes mixing and dispersion of the propellant ingredients with single base propellant a macerator is used, subsequent to the incorporation stage to impart more work into the mix. The load sensing technique used on this unit is similar to that used for the incorporator. A roll mill is utilized in the processing of triple base propellants. The triple base propellant material is nipped by two rolls, moving in opposite directions, into a rubbery sheet. This process is used between the incorporation and extrusion stages. Australia

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 1987
Accession Number
ADA192705

Entities

People

  • D. P. Manuelpillai
  • R. Bennier

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Energetic Materials
  • Extrusion
  • Gun Propellants
  • Instrumentation
  • Materials
  • Materials Laboratories
  • Materials Processing
  • Measurement
  • Propellants
  • Single Base Propellants
  • Triple Base Propellants
  • Weapons

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Control Systems Engineering.
  • Polymer Science and Engineering.
  • Rocket Propulsion.