Effect of azide polyether pyrolysis property on combustion and heat release of boron-based fuel-rich propellant

• Published in: Combustion and flame Vol. 245; p. 112269
• Main Authors: Zhang, Ximing, Wu, Wei, Jin, Peng, Ding, Shanjun, Liu, Shuang, Zhao, Shuai, Yang, Wu, Liu, Wenhao, Luo, Yunjun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc 01.11.2022
• Subjects: Boron; Energetic thermoplastic elastomer; Fuel-rich propellant; Glycidyl azide polyether; Heat release; Fuel-rich propellant; Energetic thermoplastic elastomer; Boron; Heat release; Glycidyl azide polyether
• ISSN: 0010-2180; 1556-2921
• DOI: 10.1016/j.combustflame.2022.112269

Overcoming the severe particle agglomeration of unreacted fuel boron (B) in combustion process to enhance the heat release efficiency of B-based fuel-rich propellants is still a great challenge. Glycidyl azide polyether (GAP) was introduced to synthesize GAP-based energetic thermoplastic elastomer (GAP-ETPE) binder, which was used to fabricate the B/GAP-ETPE propellant. High GAP content (85 wt%) can be used to synthesize 85%GAP-ETPE as the binder. With the increase of GAP content, the decomposition conversion rate of GAP-ETPE was increased and the apparent activation energy (Ea) of B/GAP-ETPE propellant was decreased. The heat of explosion and combustion of B/85%GAP-ETPE were increased from 4004.1 kJ/kg to 4546.2 kJ/kg and 24,056.5 kJ/kg to 24,938.3 kJ/kg, respectively. The combustion results showed that the burning rate of B/85%GAP-ETPE (3.1 mm/s) was higher than that of B/TPE (1.8 mm/s) using a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) without GAP, and the particle injection effect was significantly improved. The pressurization rate of B/85%GAP-ETPE (85 wt% is maximal GAP content in binder in current study) was 2.6 MPa/s during combustion in a closed bomb, which was higher than that of other prepared B/GAP-ETPE, showing the propellant using GAP-ETPE with high GAP content exhibited better gas formation and higher heat release, which provided good dispersion and less particle agglomeration of B particles when burning. This strategy enables B to be ejected more effectively in the combustion process to achieve a better combustion performance and heat release.