COMBUSTION STUDY OF BORON-BASED FUEL-RICH SOLID PROPELLANT

This paper presents results of the theoretical and experimental studies on combustion behaviors of boron-based fuel-rich solid propellants. Nonequilibrium temperature (T") calculations and theoretical performance predictions regarding a baseline formulation and five candidate propellants reveled promising aspects for ramrocket application. Both amorphous boron and crystalline boron that coated with GAP or LiF were incorporated in these propellants. The detailed thermochemical behaviors of the boron fuel-rich propellants and their major ingredients were investigated by thermal analyzer. Fine-wire thermocouple, color high-speed video system, powder diffractometer, strand burner, and QPCB were also employed in this studies. All data confirmed the effects of both coatings on decomposition and combustion phenomena of boron propellants, although LiF-coated boron is more effective than GAP-coated boron, and amorphous boron burned more readily than crystalline boron.