Catalyzed Double-Base Propellants

Kubota, N., Ohlemiller T.)., Caveny, L. H., and Summerfield, M., The Mechanism of Super-Rate Burning of Catalyzed Double-Base Propellants, AMS Report No. 1087, Aerospace and Mechanical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ (1973). 

Fig. 6.21 Definition of super-rate, plateau, and mesa burnings of a catalyzed double-base propellant.

In an attempt to understand the combustion mechanism of catalyzed double-base propellants, several investigators have conducted experiments to measure the burning rates of strands of liquid nitrate esters. The various measurement techniques were very similar to that employed in a conventional solid propellant strand burner. The liquid esters were placed in a tubular container, and the liquid surface regression speeds were measured by optical methods or by the fuse-wire method used in solid-propeUant strand burners. The only important difference between the solid and the liquid strand burning-rate measurements is that the liquid strand burning speed is very much dependent on the diameter of the container. 

Fig. 6.27 Super-rate burning of an LiF-catalyzed double-base propellant.

Kubota, N., Determination of Plateau Burning Effect of Catalyzed Double-Base Propellant, 17th Symposium (International) on Combustion, The Combustion Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, 1979,... 

Kubota, N., Ohlemiller, T. J., Caveny, L. H., and Summerfield, M., Site and Mode of Action of Platonizers in Double-Base Propellants, AIAA Journal, Vol. 12, No. 12, 1974, pp. 1709-1714 see also Kubota, N., Ohlemiller, T. J., Caveny, L. H., and Summerfield, M., The Mechanism of Super-Rate Burning of Catalyzed Double-Base Propellants, 15 th Symposium (International) on Combustion, The Combustion Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, 1973, pp. 529-537. 

Fig. 13.16 Stable, oscillatory, and unstable burning zones for a lead-catalyzed double-base propellant.

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