Effect of the particle size of ferric oxide on the thermal decomposition of AP-HTPB composite propellant

Thermal analysis was carried out to investigate the effect of the particle size of ferric oxide, which acts as a combustion catalyst, oil the thermal decomposition of a solid propellant consisting of ammonium perchlorate (AP) as an oxidizer and hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) as a binder. The particle size of ferric oxide used in this study varied from nanometer size to submicron size. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential thermal analysis (DTA) were used for the investigation of the thermal behavior of the samples. The activation energy was calculated using the Kissinger method. As a result, it was confirmed that the size reduction of Fe2O3 to nanometer size contributes to the promotion of the decomposition of AP-based solid propellant with the lowering of reaction temperature and / or activation energy.