Effects of Different Content of Nanomaterials on the Combustion Performance of RDX-CMDB Propellants

The influence of nano-copper (n-Cu), nano-nickel (n-Ni) and carbon nanotubes on the combustion performance of RDX-CMDB propellants was investigated. The mechanism of n-Ni on the combustion performance was also discussed by analysis of flame morphology and thermal decomposition performance. The results reveal that n-Ni with mass ratio of 0.6% would reduce the pressure exponent of RDX-CMDB propellant from 0.29 to 0.11 in the pressure range of 6-16 MPa. By contrast, the effect was not obvious for the 0.2% n-Cu, which even causes the decrease of burning rate at 2 MPa and 8-16 MPa. For the 0.8% CNTs with conventional Pb-Cu-C as catalyst, the burning rate of RDX-CMDB propellant increases from 17.12 to 22.12 mm/s at 10 MPa. Furthermore, The thermal decomposition and flame morphology imply that n-Ni improves the decomposition heat, enhances the burning surface temperature and thermal feedback, which is contributed to the thermal decomposition rate.