An Assessment of Metals as Rocket Fuels

Abstract

An assessment has been made of the use of the metals Li, Be, B, Mg, Al alone, in suspension in a hydrocarbon, and as hydrides, with the oxidant Nitric Acid. The best performance is obtained with systems based on Be and B, but the increase in performance, compared with a hydrocarbon fuel, is not sufficient to warrant a great deal of research on these fuels, particularly for medium size motors (approx 5000 lbs. thrust). Some objections to the use of metals, even for lower performance systems, are discussed.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1950
Accession Number
ADA492064

Entities

People

  • L. A. Wiseman
  • N. W. Luft

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Chemical Reactions
  • Chemistry
  • Combustion
  • Combustion Products
  • Guided Weapons
  • Heat Energy
  • Heat Of Fusion
  • Heat Of Vaporization
  • High Temperature
  • Latent Heat
  • Liquid Propellants
  • Materials Processing
  • Materials Science
  • Metal Oxides
  • Nitric Acid
  • Propellants
  • Rocket Fuels

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Molecular Photonics/Laser Physics
  • Petroleum Engineering
  • Theoretical Analysis.