Reaction zone, propellant:

A third alternative has been proposed by Anderson and Brown (A6, A9) as an outgrowth of their research on the ignition of composite propellants. Their ignition studies suggest significant contributions to the overall combustion process from the solid phase. Two exothermic reaction zones contributing to combustion are considered, as shown schematically in Fig. 19. 

Another contributing mechanism is the direct cooling of hot propellant surface by contact with the injected fluid. The fluid should cause the decomposing surface to reduce its pyrolysis rate to a point where combustion cannot be sustained. In addition, the presence of water on the surface would obstruct heat transfer from the gas-phase reaction zones to the solid surface, thus augmenting the cooling of the surface. Proponents of these two approaches have correlated the injection data on the basis of mass of fluid required per unit area of surface, but theoretical justifications for the use of this particular correlating parameter have not been presented. 

The combustion wave of a double-base propellant consists of the following five successive zones, as shovm in Fig. 6.3 (I) heat conduction zone, (II) soHd-phase reaction zone, (III) fizz zone, (IV) dark zone, and (V) flame zone-l i -i -i ]... 

The thermal structure of the combustion wave of a double-base propellant is revealed by its temperature profile trace. In the solid-phase reaction zone, the temperature increases rapidly from the initial temperature in the heat conduction zone, Tq, to the onset temperature of the solid-phase reaction, T , which is just below the burning surface temperature, T. The temperature continues to increase rapidly from T to the temperature at the end of the fizz zone, T, which is equal to the temperature at the beginning of the dark zone. In the dark zone, the temperature increases relatively slowly and the thickness of the dark zone is much greater than that of the solid-phase reaction zone or the fizz zone. Between the dark zone and the flame zone, the temperature increases rapidly once more and reaches the maximum flame temperature in the flame zone, i. e., the adiabatic flame temperature, Tg. 

The combustion wave of an NC-NG-GAP propellant consists of successive two-stage reaction zones.0 1 The first gas-phase reaction occurs at the burning surface and the temperature increases rapidly in the fizz zone. The second zone is the dark zone, which separates the luminous flame zone from the burning surface. Thus, the luminous flame stands some distance above the burning surface. This structure... 

In order to clarify the combustion wave structure of AP composite propellants, photographic observations of the gas phase at low pressure are very informative. The reaction rate is lowered and the thickness of the reaction zone is increased at low pressure. Fig. 7.3 shows the reduced burning rates of three AP-HTPB composite propellants at low pressures below 0.1 MPa.FI The chemical compositions of the propellants are shown in Table 7.1. The burning rate of the propellant with the composition ap(0-86) is higher than that of the one with ap(0-80) at constant pressure. However, the pressure exponents are 0.62 and 0.65 for the ap(0-86) and Iap(0.80) propellants, respectively that is, the burning rate is represented by r for the p(0.86) propellant and by r for the p(0.80) propellant. 

Fig. 7.5 Thickness of reaction zone as a function of pressure for AP-HTPB composite propellants at low pressures.

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-... 

Diameter-Dependence of Detonation Velocity in Solid Composite Propellants, I. Attempts to Calculate Reaction-Zone Thickness", 4thONRSympDeton (1965), pp 96-101 9) B. Hayes, "On Electrical... 

Low-Explosive (LE). An explosive which when used in its normal manner deflagrates or burns rather than detonates that is the rate of advance of the reaction zone into the unreacted material is less than the velocity of sound in the unreacted material. LE s include propellants, certain primer mixtures, BkPdr, blasting explosives (See Ref 44, p B202-L), pyrotechnic compositions and delay compositions. Whether an explosive reacts as a high explosive or a low explosive depends on the manner in which it is initiated and confined. For example, a double base propellant when initiated in the usual manner acts as a LE. However, this material can be made to detonate if it is initiated by an intense shock. Conversely, a HE like TNT, can, under certain conditions be ignited by flame and will burn without detonation (Ref 40a, p 97)... 

Low pressure burning behavior gives information concerning the detailed structure of the flame zone. It is known that the fuel-oxidant reaction zone becomes very weak at very low pressures. Thus, the nature of any remaining exothermic reactions occurring at or near the propellant surface is more obvious in the over-all propellant burning behavior. Burning rates and extinction behavior have been measured for a number of propellant systems and are reported below. These results are then interpreted in terms of the theoretical predictions made previously. 

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