Composite pyrolant

HMX and RDX are energetic materials that produce high-temperature combustion products at about 3000 K. If one assumes that the combustion products at high temperature are HjO, Nj, and CO, rather than COj, both nitramines are considered to be stoichiometricaUy balanced materials and no excess oxidizer or fuel fragments are formed. When HMX or RDX particles are mixed with a polymeric hydrocarbon, a nitramine pyrolant is formed. Each nitramine particle is surrounded by the polymer and hence the physical structure is heterogeneous, similar to that of an AP composite pyrolant... 

Since nitramine pyrolants are fuel-rich materials, the flame temperature decreases with increasing hydrocarbon polymer content The polymers act as coolants and generate thermally decomposed fragments as a result of the exothermic heat of the nitramine particles. The major decomposition products of the polymers are H2, HCHO, CH4, and When AP particles are incorporated into nitramine pyrolants, AP-nitramine composite pyrolants are formed. AP particles produce excess oxidizer fragments that oxidize the fuel fragments of the polymers that surround them. Thus, the addition of AP particles to nitramine pyrolants forms stoichiometricaUy balanced products and the combustion temperature increases. 

Since the combustion temperature of AN pyrolants is very low compared with other composite pyrolants, their specific impulse when used as rocket propellants is also low. However, they are used as gas generators for the control of various types of mechanics owing to the low temperature and low burning rate characteristics. 

Fig. 15.12 Effect of boron particle size on the burning rates of an AP composite pyrolant.

Fig. 15.12 shows the burning rate characteristics of an AP composite pyrolant containing boron particles. The pyrolant is composed of j p(0A0),... 

Y. Ishida, S. Wakamatsu, H. Yokoi, H. Ontani and S. Tsurge, Compositional analysis of polyunsaturated fatty acid oil by one step thermally assisted hydrolysis and methylation in the presence of trimethylsulfonium hydroxide, J. Anal. Appl. Pyrol., 49, 267 276 (1999). 

In order to avoid the use of lead compounds on environmental grounds, lithium fluoride (liF) has been chosen to obtain super-rate burning of nitramine composite propellants.P7281 Typical chemical compositions of HMX composite propellants-with and without liF are shown in Table 7.4. The non-catalyzed HMX propellant is used as a reference pyrolant to evaluate the effect of super-rate burning. The HMX particles are of finely divided, crystalline (3-HMX with a bimodal size distribution. Hydroxy-terminated polyether (HTPE) is used as a binder, the OH groups of which are cured with isophorone diisocyanate. The chemical properties of the HTPE binder are summarized in Table 7.5. 

Hydrocarbon polymers (HCP) are used not only as fuel components but also as binders of crystalline oxidizers and metal powders in the formulation of pyrolants, similar to composite propellants and plastic-bonded explosives. There are many types of HCP, the physicochemical properties of which are dependent on their molecular structures. The viscosity, molecular mass, and functionality of the poly-... 

Table 11.1 Chemical compositions of metallized pyrolants used as igniters.

B-AP pyrolants made with CTPB are cured with epoxy resin as in the case of conventional AP-CTPB composite propellants. The mixture ratio of large-sized AP particles (200 pm in diameter) and small-sized particles (20 pm in diameter) is 0.30/ 0.70. The mass fraction of boron is variously 0.010, 0.050, 0.075, or 0.150, and the diameter of the boron particles, d, is either 0.5 pm, 2.7 pm, or 9 pm. 

Though the pyrolants used in gas-hybrid rockets burn in a similar manner as rocket propellants, their chemical compositions are fuel-rich. The pyrolants burn incompletely and the combustion temperature is below about 1000 K. When an atomized oxidizer is mixed with the fuel-rich gas in the secondary combustor, the mixture reacts to generate high-temperature combustion products. The combushon performance designated by specific impulse, is dependent on the combinahon of pyrolant and oxidizer. 

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