HMX propellant

Kimura, J., and N. Kubota. 1980. Thermal decomposition process of HMX. Propellants Expolsives 5 1-8. 

The flame stand-off distance, L4, defined in Eq. (3.70), decreases with increasing pressure, and the pressure exponent of the flame stand-off distance, d, ranges from -1.9 to -2.3 for RDX and HMX propellants. The overall order of the reaction in the dark zone is determined to be m = 2.5-2.8. This is approximately equal to the overall order of the reaction in the dark zone in the case of double-base propellants, m = 2.5, which would suggest close similarity of the reaction pathways in the dark zone for nitramine composite propellants and double-base propellants. 

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. 

Fig. 7.46 shows the burning rates of the catalyzed HMX propellants and demonstrates a drastically increased burning rate, i. e., super-rate burning. However, LiF or C alone are seen to have little or no effect on burning rate. The super-rate burning occurs only when a combination of LiF and C is incorporated into the HMX propellant. The results indicate that LiF acts as a catalyst to produce super-rate burning of the H MX propellant only when used in tandem with a small amount of C. The C (carbon black) is considered to act as a catalyst promoter. A similar superrate burning effect is observed when the same catalysts are added to nitropolymer propellants. 

It is well known that the super-rate burning of nitropolymer propellants diminishes with increasing pressure in the region 5-100 MPa and that the pressure exponent of burning rate decreases. - ] This burning rate mode is called plateau burning. As for these nitropolymer propellants catalyzed with LiF and C, HMX propellants catalyzed with LiF and C also show plateau burning. 

The combustion wave structure of HMX propellants catalyzed with LiF and C is similar to that of catalyzed nitropolymer propellants the luminous flame stands some distance above the burning surface at low pressures and approaches the burning surface with increasing pressure. The flame stand-off distance from the burning surface to the luminous flame front is increased at constant pressure when the propellant is catalyzed. The flame stand-off distance decreases with increasing pressure for both non-catalyzed and catalyzed propellants. 

The burning surface of an HMX propellant only becomes covered with carbonaceous materials when the propellant is catalyzed with both LiF and C. This surface structure is similar to the burning surface of an HMX propellant catalyzed with a lead compound and C. The results indicate that the combushon mode and the action of LiF are the same as those resulting from the use of lead compounds to produce super-rate and plateau burning of nitramine propellants. 

The combustion wave of an HMX composite propellant consists of successive re-achon zones the condensed-phase reachon zone, a first-stage reaction zone, a second-stage reaction zone, and the luminous flame zone. The combustion wave structure and temperature distribution for an HMX propellant are shown in Fig. 7.47. In the condensed-phase reaction zone, HMX particles melt together with the polymeric binder HTPE and form an energetic liquid mixture that covers the burning surface of the propellant. In the first-stage reaction zone, a rapid exother-... 

Fig. 7.63 shows plots of In burning rate versus In pressure for AN-(BAMO-AMMO)-HMX propellants with and without (NHJjCrjO and CuCi20. l i The chemical compositions of these propellants are shown in Table 7.8. 

Kubota, N., Physicochemical Processes of HMX Propellant Combustion, 19th Symposium (International) on Combustion, The Combustion Institute, Pittsburgh, PA (1982), pp. 777-785. 

Time to First Flame Ignition of Oxamide-Containing HMX Propellants Using a Heat Source Consisting of an Acetylene Flame 1.7 cm in Length (Ref 65)... 

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