Rockets solid

Another application of laser-based profilometry is the inspection of rocket and missile components. The U.S. Air Force has funded work to develop a non-contact laser-based profilometer for the inside surface of solid rocket motors. Over time, these devices are subject to slumping and cracking, which could potentially render the rocket motor ineffective and hazardous. When fully implemented, this system will provide a meaningful screening method for evaluating the condition of aging rocket motors. 

The procedures used for estimating the service life of solid rocket and gun propulsion systems include physical and chemical tests after storage at elevated temperatures under simulated field conditions, modeling and simulation of propellant strains and bond tine characteristics, measurements of stabilizer content, periodic surveillance tests of systems received after storage in the field, and extrapolation of the service life from the detailed data obtained (21—33). 

R. A. McKay,M Study of Selected Parameters in S olid Propellant Processing,]et Propulsion Lab, Pasadena, Calif., Aug. 1986 J. L. Brown and co-workers. Manufacturing Technologyfor SolidPropellantIngredients/Preparation Reclamation, Morton Thiokol, Inc., Brigham City, Utah, Apt. 1985 W. P. Sampson, Eow Cost Continuous Processing of Solid Rocket Propellant, Al-TR-90-008, Astronautics Laboiatoiy/TSTR, Edwards AEB, Oct. 1990. 

Solid Rocket Motorinsulation, Space Vehicle Design Ciiteiia Monograph, NASA, Airport, Md., 1971. 

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. 

F. A. WiUiams and co-workers. FundamentalMspects of Solid Rocket Propellants, Agardograph No. 116, Technical Press, London, 1969. 

In contrast, there is also current interest in investigating PAN-based fibers in low thermal conductivity composites [62], Such fibers are carbonized at low temperature and offer a substitute to rayon-based carbon fibers in composites designed for solid rocket motor nozzles and exit cones. 

Two Workers Die and Solid Rocket Fuel Supply Destroyed ... 

May 4, 1988, explosions leveled a Pacific Engineering Production Co. (PEPCO) plant, at Henderson, NV, one of only two U.S. plants producing 20 million lb/ year (maximum of 40 million Ib/year - see Table 7.1-2) ammonium perchlorate for solid rocket fuel. It was the principal supplier for the space shuttle and sole supplier for the Titan rocket and several military missiles. 

Solid Rocket Propulsion Technology, (A. Devenas, ed.), Pergamon, Oxford (1993). 

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. 

Modern composite solid propellant is a mechanical mixture of the powder-like chemicals and a binding resin. The propellant used for the Space Shuttle solid rocket boosters (SRBs) is a typical example of such mixture ... 

Keating, J. W. and R. D. Geckler, Propellant Manufacturing Methods For Large Solid Rockets, presented at Atlanta meeting AIGhE, Feb. 1960. 

It is a useful fluorinating agent and oxidizer for solid rocket proplnts (Ref 6)... 

A Small but important daSS of fOi mUlatiOnS comprises the Composite Solid Rocket Propellants. Composites typically contain a major amount of an oxidizer such as AP or HMX, a metal powder such as Al, a binder which is one or another type of rubber (or double-base), and up to a dozen trace ingredients such as catalysts, stabilizers, etc. There are literally hundreds of formulations, all to a degree similar and the choice comes down to specific missions, economics, and special requirements Loading of End Items. The blends and formulations described above may be loaded into their hardware in the plant where they are made, or they may be shipped to another plant for Load/... 

Refs 1) Beil 1, 937—948 la) K. Krowicki et al, Solid Rocket Propellants , StalePaluva-Rakietowe(Pol), Trnsln No HT6G00730, TM 7000397, FTD, Wright Patterson AFB (1964) lb) Anon, Polybutadiene, Linear, Carboxyl Terminated , MlL-P-23942 (1) (1966)... 

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

A. Jankowski, Mechanism of Erosive Burning of Solid Rocket Propellants , ArchProcesowSpalonia 3 (3), 249-77 (1972)... 

D, W. Blair, CombustFlame 20 (1), 105—9 (1973) CA 78, 113515 (1973) A simple heat-transfer model is coupled with an Arrhenius-type pyrolysis law to study the effect of solid-state heat-transfer losses on burning rates of solid rocket-proplnt strands. Such heat-transfer losses materially affect the burning rates and also cause extinction phenomena similar to some that had been observed exptly. Strand diam and compn, adiabatic burning rate, and the heat-transfer film coeff at the strand surface are important variables. Results of theoretical analysis are applied to AP-based composite solid proplnts... 

Solid rocket performance during rapid pressure increases differs greatly from predictions based on steady-state burning rate data, Rapid pressurization (150—250kpsi/ sec) following a sudden throat-area decrease in... 

H. Schubert, ChemZtg 97 (9), 486—92 (1973) CA 80,28964 (1974) A brief historical survey of solid rocket proplnts is followed by a description of solid propint motors and of the uses of the proplnts. The compn and the process technology of two fundamentally different types of proplnts, ie, homogeneous or double-base solid proplnts and heterogeneous or composite solid proplnts, are described. Their properties are reviewed... 

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