Solid propellant rocket motors

Other keywords in this connection -< Rocket Motor, -> Solid Propellant Rocket -> Specific Impulse. 

In a solid-propellant rocket motor, the propellant is contained within the wall of the combustion chamber, as shown in Fig. 1. This contrasts with liquid systems, where both the fuel and oxidizing components are stored in tanks external to the combustion chamber and are pumped or pressure-fed to the combustor. In hybrid systems, one component, usually the fuel, is contained in the combustion chamber, while the other component is fed to the chamber from a separate storage tank, as in liquid systems. The solid-propellant motor also has an ignition system located at one end to initiate operation of the rocket. The supersonic nozzle affects the conversion of... 

Propellants based on carboxyl-terminated polybutadienes have been used successfully in many solid rocket motors. These propellants provide... 

Hybrid rocket motors use propellants in two different states of matter, usually a solid fuel and a liquid or gaseous oxidizer. Like liquid rockets and unlike solid rockets a hybrid engine can be turned off easily but due to the fact that fuel and oxidizer (different states of matter) would not mix in the case of an accident, hybrid rockets fail more benignly than liquid or solid motors. 

T. D. Wilson and O. T. Moskios, Disposal of Solid Rocket Motor Propellants, CPTR89-45, CPIA Pubhcations, Johns Hopkins Urdveisity, Lauiel, Md., July 1989. 

Monographs on rockets and rocket propellants by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Lewis Research Center, Cleveland. These iaclude the foUowiag Solid Propellant Selection and Characteri tion, Report SP-8064,1971 Solid Rocket Motor Peformance, Report SP-8039,1971 Solid Rocket Motor Igniters, Report SP-8051,1971 Solid Rocket Motor Metal Cases, Report SP-8025, 1970, and Captive Eire Testing of Solid Rocket Motors, Report SP-8041,1971. 

A solid propellant is a mechanical (heterogeneous) or a chemical (homogeneous, or colloidal) mixture of solid-state fuel and oxidizer-rich chemicals. Specially-formed charges of solid propellant (grains) arc placed in the combustion chamber of the solid rocket motor (SRM) at a production facility. Once assembled, the engine does not require additional maintenance, making it simple, reliable and easy to use. 

Investigation of the Feasibility of Measuring the Chamber Temperature of Solid Propellant Rocket Motors by Using Microwave Attenuation Measurements , AFOSR-70-2444TR, Contract F44620-68-C-022, Utah Univ, Salt Lake City (1970) 33) M. Venugopalan, Reactions... 

MinyAvn, London (1967) H) Anon, Research and Development Programs , Rept No APL-U-RQR/67-3, JHU/APL, Contract NOW-62-0604 (1967) I) A.C. Parmee S.F.W. Woodhouse, Assessment of Materials for Use as Nozzle Inserts in Solid Propellant Rocket Motors Part V, Tungsten , Rept No RPE-TR-67/17, Rocket Propn Estbmt, Westcott (Engl)... 

Sieg et al, Bonding a Rocket Motor Liner to a Solid Rocket Propellant Grain , USP 3904715 (1975). CA 84, 7210 (1976)... 

Fig. 1. Typical solid-propellant rocket motor configuration.

There are a variety of igniter designs which are currently employed in solid-propellant rockets. These types include rocket-exhaust (pyrogen), pyrotechnic, and hypergolic igniters, each of which can be located in the head-end closure of the motor or in the exhaust nozzle at the aft-end of the motor. The heat-transfer information appropriate to each of these possible combinations is discussed in the following sections. 

The discussion of the important design considerations of solid-propellant motors presented in Section I has shown the importance of the steady-state burning rate of the propellant. The particular mission for a rocket motor to... 

Often, an important consideration in the definition of a missile s mission is the ability to stop the rocket motor upon demand. Such capability provides the opportunity to exercise control over the flight path and to make corrections where necessary. Solid propellants do not readily lend themselves to start-stop applications because the oxidizer and fuel are already mixed, and... 

The design of propellants for solid fuel rockets differs considerably from that for ordnance, because of the lower operating pressures, usually below 15 MPa. To understand the principles involved it is first necessary to give a brief account of rocket propulsion. In this account considerations will be restricted to motors based on solid propellants. Motors based on liquid fuels, such as petroleum fractions and liquid oxygen, depend on combustion processes of non-explosive type. 

At the discharge end of the ERH, the slurry is drained through a perforated section into a sump. The solid materials, which include unreacted fuze components, segments of fiberglass and steel casings from rocket motors, small quantities of residual rocket propellant, and steel burster tubes and nose closures, are lifted out of the solution by the spiral flights and fed into a chute leading directly onto the HDC, discussed in Step 13, for 5X decontamination. 

It is evident that the standing pressure wave in a rocket motor is suppressed by solid particles in the free volume of the combushon chamber. The effect of the pressure wave damping is dependent on the concentrahon of the solid parhcles, and the size of the parhcles is determined by the nature of the pressure wave, such as the frequency of the oscillation and the pressure level, as well as the properties of the combustion gases. Fig. 13.25 shows the results of combustion tests to determine the effechve mass fraction of A1 parhcles. When the propellant grain without A1 particles is burned, there is breakdown due to the combushon instability. When... 

Niioka, T., Mitani, T and Ishii, S Observation of the Combustion Surface by Extinction Tests of Spinning Solid Propellant Rocket Motors, Proceedings of the 11th International Symposium on Space Technology and Science, Tokyo, 1975, pp. 77-82. 

Ducted rockets are intermediate between solid rockets and liquid ramjets in their propulsion characteristics. The propulsive force of soHd rockets is generated by the combustion of propellants composed of oxidizer and fuel components. Thus, no additional fuels or oxidizers need to be introduced from the atmosphere into the rocket motor. The momentum change of the exhaust gas from the nozzle attached to the aft-end of the combustion chamber is converted into the thrust for propulsion. On the other hand, the propulsive force of Hquid ramjets is generated by the combustion of a liquid hydrocarbon fuel with air introduced from the atmo-sphere.Ii] jjjg incoming air is compressed by a shock wave formed at the air-intake attached to the front end of the combustor. The air taken in from the atmosphere serves only as the oxidizer for the ramjets. The thrust is created by the momentum difference between the exhaust gas from the combustor and the air taken in from the atmosphere. 

Investigation of Transverse Mode Combustion in Liquid Propellant Rocket Motors (PhD Thesis), Princeton Univ, June 1, 1961 E) L.A. Dickinson, "Command Initiation of Finite Wave Axial Combustion Instability in Solid Propellant Rocket Motors , ARS 32, 643(1962) F) S.Z. Burstein V.D. Agosta, "Combustion Instability Non-Linear Analysis of Wave Propagation in a Liquid Propellant Rocket Motor , Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, Dept of Mechanical Engineering,... 

Hercopel a unique all-epoxide cure composite solid propellant with excellent mechanical and ballistic properties. Its outstanding performance in extended environments makes it well suited for tactical missiles Double-Base Solid Propellants a wide variety of physical and ballistic properties which can be tailored to meet specific performance requirements. Their high specific impulse and excellent reproducibility are two of the many reasons Hercules double-base propellants are found in many of our rocket motors and gas generators used for both military and space applications... 

Western States Sect Combust Inst, Paper, WSCI 65-23 (1965) 27) G.R. Mistier T.F. Seamans, Vacuum ignition characteristics of flox/diborane and oxygen difluoride/diborane, NASA Contract Report 1969, NASA-CR-100678. Avail CFSTI. From SciTechAerosp Rep 7 (12), 2196 (1969) 28) W.B. Powell et al, ClFj-Njli, liquid propellant evaluation and rocket motor development, TechRept 32-305, Jet Propulsion Lab, Calif Inst Tech, Pasadena, Ca, (May 1963) (NASA N63-21722) 29) H. Allen, Jr Pinna, Relative ignitability of typical solid propellants with C1F3, NASA TN-D-1533, NASA, Wash, DC, (Jan 1963) (NASA N63-11616) 30) R.F. Sawyer et al, AIAA J, 6, 11, 2111 (1968) CA 70, 13118 (1969) 31) M.C. Branch ... 

JATO. Abbreviation for Jet Assisted Take Off which refers to the use of an auxiliary rocket motor for added thrust in the take-off of an aircraft. The usual JATO units are solid propellants (Ref 2) ... 

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