Elongational behavior of gelled propellant simulants

Abstract

An elongational rheometer is used to study the rheological behavior of gelled propellant simulants in uniaxial elongational flow. In simple shear such fluids typically exhibit a shear thinning behavior which could be described by a power-law constitutive equation. Knowledge of the elongational behavior of these fluids is important for understanding the processes of their atomization and spray formation. The results of the present work demonstrated that the three-dimensional power-law model permits description of uniaxial elongation of these fluids as well. Moreover, the values of the rheological parameters of the tested fluids measured in simple shear and in uniaxial elongation agree fairly closely. Therefore the elongational behavior of gelled propellant simulants can be inferred from their shear behavior. (C) 2004 The Society of Rheology.