Cryogenic Solid Propulsion Technology Development Status

Combustion of alane and aluminum with water for hydrogen and thermal energy generation

“…Ingentio and Bruno [5] suggested that aluminum/steam reactions can possibly produce a specific impulse greater than 300 s. Thus, coupled with the emergence of nano-sized particles, researchers have been examining Al and water mixtures for propulsion, power generation, and hydrogen production due to its efficient two-component configuration [6][7][8][9]. Considerable efforts have recently been made to investigate the combustion of Al-water mixtures in both the liquid and frozen phases [10][11][12][13][14]. These studies have shown high conversion efficiencies in constant-volume experiments and very high burning rates with nanometer sized Al particles.…”

A Novel Kind of Green Solid Propellant Containing H2O2 Cured at Room Temperature (SPHP)

“…The hot firing tests demonstrated the stable and smokeless combustion of SPHP,a sw ell as its combustion behavior within the pressure range of 2-10 MPa was in agreement with Vieille's law and thus can be represented byr= 9.95P 0.57 . [ 8].A ll these operations at low temperature will introduce much trouble in logistics and ar elatively high cost. If the solid propellant containing H 2 O 2 can be prepared, stored, and used at room temperature, all the trouble caused by low temperature will be overcome.…”

“…In 1990s, B. Voslamber,M .V oslamber, and R. E. Lo discussed the feasibility of CSP and concluded that CSP was technically feasible on any aspects for practical application [ 5,6].S ince the beginning of 21stc entury, the research activities on CSP have enteredi nto av igorous period. Many issuesc overed by CSP,i ncluding theoretical performance [7,8],p ropellant ingredients [8],g rain structures and preparationt echnique [9][10][11],c ombustion characteristics [12][13][14][15][16], motor designa nd experiments [17,18], etc. have been investigated deeply.I nt heser esearches, H 2 O 2 was selected as oxidizer ingredient of CSP due to its high oxygenc ontent, non-toxicity,a nd simplicity of operation.AlthoughC SP has the advantageso fb oth solid and liquid propellants, it also has notable limitations.…”

New high energetic composite propellants for space applications: refrigerated solid propellant

“…In these works, CSP appears to be a promising new material for propulsion delivering a speci¦c impulse higher than any traditional solid propellant (280 450 s vs. 220 290 s [2]). To illustrate CSP potential application, two designs are presented depending on the considered con¦gurations (solid H 2 O 2 locates between polymer modules or coherent propellant grain).…”

“…Cryogenic solid propellant, so named because of very low temperature, are widely reviewed in studies carried out by R. Lo et al (see, for example, [1,2]). In these works, CSP appears to be a promising new material for propulsion delivering a speci¦c impulse higher than any traditional solid propellant (280 450 s vs. 220 290 s [2]).…”