Pressure-Time Study of Slow Burning Rate Ap/HTPB Based Composite Propellant by Using Closed Vessel Test (CVT)

Abstract

The Closed vessel (CV) is an equipment used to study the ballistic parameters by recording burning time history, pressure buildup during the process and vivacity of the propellants. It is an apparatus which consists of strong pressure vessel, piezo-electric pressure transducers, sensors and dedicated software. To save time and resources this method is employed instead of dynamic firing while doing research and development of propellants. A measured amount of propellant charge is loaded in the vessel and fired remotely. Ignition is provided by the filament which ignites the black powder charge. In this study, we have used Closed Vessel Tests (CVT) for the first time for recording the ballistic parameters of slow burning composite rocket propellant. We developed a set of composite solid propellant samples containing a mixture of bimodal Ammonium Perchlorate (AP) as an oxidizer, Hydroxy-terminated Polybutadiene (HTPB) as a binder as well as fuel, Dioctyl Sebacate (DOS) as plasticizer, 1-(2-methyl) Aziridinyl Phosphine Oxide (MAPO) as bonding agent and Toluene Diisocyanate (TDI) as curator. Samples were developed by changing the solid loading percentage of bimodal AP particles. By increasing the percentage of AP, the oxidizer-fuel ratio (O/F) increases which effects the ballistic parameters. It is observed that maximum pressure and vivacity increases with increase in solid filler in the propellants. As quantity of AP increases, rate of rise of pressure also increases. CVT firing of each sample was done three times to obtain average burning time and pressure buildup history to evaluate the effect of oxidizer loadings on ballistic parameters of the composite propellant.