Manufacture of rockets

Solventless Extrusion Process. The solvendess process for making double-base propellants has been used ia the United States primarily for the manufacture of rocket propellant grains having web thickness from ca 1.35 to 15 cm and for thin-sheet mortar (M8) propellant. The process offers such advantages as minimal dimensional changes after extmsion, the elimination of the drying process, and better long-term baUistic uniformity because there is no loss of volatile solvent. The composition and properties of typical double-base solvent extmded rocket and mortar propellant are Hsted ia Table... 

THE TECHNOLOGY OF THE MANUFACTURE OF ROCKET CHARGES CONTA NIG COMPOSITE PROPELLANTS WITH THIOKOL... 

It is characteristic of the technology of the manufacture of rocket charges containing composite propellants with thiokol that the semi-liquid mixture is poured directly into the rocket chamber lined from within with an insulating layer to which the charge adheres tightly ( case-bonded charge). This is a very cheap and rapid method of manufacture. 

The technology of the manufacture of rocket charges containing composite propellants with ihiokol... 

Hydrazine (N2H4) is used as a reducing agent and in the manufacture of rocket fuels. How do you expect its boiling point to compare with that of ethylene (C2H4) ... 

Dimeihylamine, C2H7N, (CH3)2NH. Colourless, inflammable liquid with an ammoniacal odour, mp -96" C, b.p. 7°C. Occurs naturally in herring brine. Prepared in the laboratory by treating nitrosodimetbyl-aniline with a hot solution of sodium hydroxide. Dimethylamine is largely used in the manufacture of other chemicals. These include the solvents dimethylacetamide and dimethyl-formamide, the rocket propellant unsym-metrical dimethylhydrazine, surface-active agents, herbicides, fungicides and rubber accelerators. 

There now exist alternatives or sufficient quantities of controlled substances for almost all applications of ozone-depleting solvents. Exceptions have been noted for certain laboratory and analytical uses and for manufacture of space shuttle rocket motors. HCFCs have not been adopted on a large scale as alternatives to CFC solvents. In the near term, however, they may be needed as the conventional substances in some limited and unique applications. HCFC-141b is not a good replacement for methyl chloroform (1,1,1 -trichloroethane) because its ODP is three times higher. Alternatives for specific uses of ozone-depleting solvents are briefly described below. 

The SP-ablator allows higher aerodynamic loads with lower surface/mass ratio for heat shields, and should be ideally suited for moon, mars, or other interplanetary return missions. These shields are also suitable for cost-effective flight models of winged reentry capsules. A large application potential can be seen for nozzles and combustion chambers or housings of rocket engines. Dornier plans to manufacture a heat shield for the Mirka capsule one meter in diameter. The C/SiC-cover will be fabricated in one piece. 

Used industrially in the manufacture of fluorocarbons as a chemical intermediate in the manufacture of sulfur hexafluoride, chlorine trifluoride, bromine trifluoride uranium hexafluoride, molybdenum hexafluoride, perchloryl fluoride, and oxygen difluoride and as a rocket propellant. 

Ammonium thiocyanate is used as an ingredient in antibiotic fermentations, pesticides, liquid rocket propellants, adhesives, and matches in photographic processes to improve the strength of silks in the manufacture of transparent artificial resins and as a weed killer and defoliant (Sax and Lewis 1987 Windholz 1983). 

Uses Manufacture of acrylonitrile, hydrazine hydrate, hydrogen cyanide, nitric acid, sodium carbonate, urethane, explosives, synthetic fibers, fertilizers refrigerant condensation catalyst dyeing neutralizing agent synthetic fibers latex preservative fuel cells, rocket fuel nitrocellulose nitroparaffins ethylenediamine, melamine sulfite cooking liquors developing diazo films yeast nutrient. 

Uses Manufacture of viscose rayon, cellophane, flotation agents, ammonium salts, carbon tetrachloride, carbanilide, paints, enamels, paint removers, varnishes, tallow, textiles, rocket fuel, soil disinfectants, electronic vacuum tubes, herbicides grain fumigants solvent for fats, resins, phosphorus, sulfur, bromine, iodine, and rubber petroleum and coal tar refining solvent and eluant for organics adsorbed on charcoal for air analysis. 

Its compounds have many practical uses. For example, when the mineral barite is ground up into a fine powder, it can be used as a filler and brightener for writing and computer paper. It is also used (along with zinc sulfide) as a pigment, called lithopone, for white paint. Barium compounds are also used in the manufacture of plastics, rubber, resins, ceramics, rocket fuel, fireworks, insecticides, and fungicides and to refine vegetable oils. 

The compound cerium oxide (either Ce Oj or CeO ) is used to coat the inside of ovens because it was discovered that food cannot stick to oven walls that are coated with cerium oxide. Cerium compounds are used as electrodes in high-intensity lamps and film projectors used by the motion picture industry. Cerium is also used in the manufacturing and polishing of high-refraction lenses for cameras and telescopes and in the manufacture of incandescent lantern mantles. It additionally acts as a chemical reagent, a misch metal, and a chemical catalyst. Cerium halides are an important component of the textile and photographic industries, as an additive to other metals, and in automobile catalytic converters. Cerium is also used as an alloy to make special steel for jet engines, solid-state instruments, and rocket propellants. 

Rocket fuel factory and surroundings. Fine, et al (5) reported nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) to be present as an air pollutant in Baltimore, Maryland. The prime source was subsequently found to be a chemical plant which was manufacturing the rocket fuel, unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine (UDMH), for which NDMA was used as a precursor. Typical NDMA levels were between 6000 and 36,000 ng/m3 on the site of the factory, about 1000 ng/m3 in the residential neighborhood adjacent to the factory and about 100 ng/m3 two miles away in downtown Baltimore. Typical daily human exposures to NDMA were calculated to be 39 Mg at the factory site, 10 Mg in the adjacent residential neighborhood and 1.0 Mg in downtown Baltimore. It is of interest to note that a leak of just 130 g. (4.7 ounces) NDMA per hour could have explained all the airborne NDMA emissions in Baltimore. 

Uses. Conversion of uranium tetrafluoride to uranium hexafluoride oxidizer in rocket fuel systems manufacture of various fluorides and fluorocarbons... 

Uses. Manufacture of dynamite, gun powder and rocket propellants, and as a therapeutic agent primarily to alleviate angina pectoris. Note Workers engaged in the production or use of dynamite are potentially exposed to mixed vapors of nitroglycerin (NG) and ethylene glycol dinitrate (EGDN). 

In 1807 Congreve is said to have personally directed the firing of his rockets at the siege of Copenhagen where they are reported to have been effective and by the middle of the nineteenth century all the leading powers in Europe were manufacturing war-rockets. 

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