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Burning of Nano-Aluminized Composite Rocket Propellants

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Combustion, Explosion and Shock Waves Aims and scope

Abstract

Several aluminum nanopowders were examined and compared with the final goal to evaluate their application in solid rocket propulsion. A detailed investigation of pre-burning properties by the Brunauer-Emmet-Teller method, electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was carried out. Ballistic properties and the combustion mechanism of several aluminized propellant formulations were investigated. In particular, aggregation and agglomeration of metal particles at and near the burning surface were analyzed by high-speed high-resolution color digital video recordings. All tested nano-powders are of Russian production; their physical characterization was carried out at the Istituto Donegani (Novara, Italy); ballistic studies were performed at the Solid Propulsion Laboratory (Milano, Italy) using laboratory and, for comparison, industrial composite propellants based on ammonium perchlorate as an oxidizer. Results obtained under a fair variety of operating conditions typical of rocket propulsion indicate, for increasing nano-Al mass fraction or decreasing nano-Al size, larger steady burning rates with essentially the same pressure sensitivity. While aggregation and agglomeration phenomena still occur, their significance may be reduced by using nano-Al instead of micro-Al.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Politecnico di Milano, Solid Propulsion Laboratory, Milano, I-20158, Italy

    L. T. De Luca, L. Galfetti & F. Severini

  2. Polimeri Europa, Istituto G. Donegani, Novara, I-28100, Italy

    L. Meda & G. Marra

  3. Tomsk State University, Tomsk, 634034, Russia

    A. B. Vorozhtsov

  4. Institute of High Current Electronics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Tomsk, 634055, Russia

    V. S. Sedoi

  5. Baltic State Technical University, St. Petersburg, 198005, Russia

    V. A. Babuk

Authors
  1. L. T. De Luca
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  2. L. Galfetti
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  3. F. Severini
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  4. L. Meda
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  5. G. Marra
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  6. A. B. Vorozhtsov
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  7. V. S. Sedoi
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  8. V. A. Babuk
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__________

Translated from Fizika Goreniya i Vzryva, Vol. 41, No. 6, pp. 80–94, November–December, 2005.

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De Luca, L.T., Galfetti, L., Severini, F. et al. Burning of Nano-Aluminized Composite Rocket Propellants. Combust Explos Shock Waves 41, 680–692 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10573-005-0080-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10573-005-0080-5

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