NEW ENERGETIC MATERIALS FOR THE PROPULSION OF SPACE VEHICLES AND ROCKETS

The advent of new energetic materials such as ADN, HNF, NTO, CL-20, etc., the availability of energetic binders such as GAP, BAMO, AMMO etc., energetic plasticizers such as butyl NENA, DANPE, etc. has opened a new era in the development of advanced solid propellants, capable of delivering a very high energy (Isp similar or equal to 300 s). The emergence of nano-energetic materials is likely to change the scene of advanced propellants drastically. This paper reports the results of research and development carried out on propellants based on HNF, CL-20, and metallic powders, like Zr and Ti, with both conventional and energetic binders, and energetic plasticizers. Advanced solid propellant compositions containing 60% RDX along with GAP as the energetic binder and TMETN as the energetic plasticizer produced burn rate of around 15 mm/s, whereas a composition containing CL-20 and GAP produced burn rates of 20 mm/s. CL-20 has an edge over RDX/HMX, as a potential oxidizer or high energy additive. The combination of HNF with GAP and the BAMO/THF copolymer as a binder with metal hydrides appears to be highly promising when taking into account energy considerations. The of 40% HNF in a NC-NG matrix with GAP as the energetic plasticizer produced a burn rate of 36mm/s at 9 MPa with a pressure index of 0.70 and is capable of producing Isp of 270 s. The use of 50-60% Zr powder-based fuel rich propellants produced stable combustion in a primary motor. The replacement of conventional plasticizers with energetic plasticizers raised the burn rate by 2-3 fold for Ti-and Ni-based fuel rich propellants.