Studies on the High Performance Characteristics of an Aluminized Ammonium Perchlorate Composite Solid Propellant Based on Nitrile Butadiene Rubber

Abstract

In the present study, a high performance composite solid propellant formulation was prepared based on nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) plasticizer, which has a longer pot life and high density specific impulse. The developed cost effective novel binder system was prepared with readily available raw materials (NBR and DBP). The formulation of the composition was performed by varying the content of the NBR/DBP binder in the range of 14-20%. The rocket performance characteristics were determined theoretically using PROPEP and compared with those of an HTPB based propellant. The rheological, mechanical, physical, ballistic and thermal properties of the NBR/ DBP propellant were studied and compared with literature data for similar compositions based on an HTPB/dioctyl adipate (DOA) binder. The yield stress was determined by spreadibilty measurements, and indicated the superiority of this binder based propellant over existing composite propellants. It was concluded that following decreasing the content of the NBR/DBP binder in the propellant from 20 to 14%: - in the range 58.83-78.45 bar (5.883-7.845 MPa), the pressure index increased from 0.159 to 0.371, - at 68.64 bar (6.864 MPa), the burning rate increased from 4.10 to 6.54 mm/s, but the theoretical specific impulse value did not change significantly (258.0259.8 s), - the tensile strength and E-modulus increased from 6.03 to 9.88 (0.591-0.969) to and from 18.00 to 75.00 kgf/cm2 (1.765 to 7.355 MPa), respectively. Moreover, a DSC and TGA study indicated a lower decomposition temperature for the NBR/DBP propellant compared to the HTPB propellant. The NBR/DBP propellant exhibited a pot life more than double that of a conventional HTPB/ DOA based propellant.