Laboratory-Scale Burning of Composite Solid Propellant Using In-Situ Synthesized Iron Oxide

2016, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc, AIAA. All rights reserved. The focus of this study was to demonstrate the ability to synthesize in-situ iron oxide. The in-situ synthesis process to grow nano-particles in the propellant binder has been shown in previous studies to enhance the catalytic effect of titania in composition propellants. Upon the success of synthesizing the in-situ titania in the HTPB binder, now the authors have applied that same process to iron oxide. Results indicate the 15-to-20-nm-sized iron oxide particles grown in-situ indeed increase the burning rate on both aluminized and non-aluminized AP/HTPB-based propellants. SEM imaging was used to view the in-situ iron oxide in the HTPB binder, and it appeared to be well distributed within the binder. As this work represents the first iteration on the iron oxide synthesis process, additional iterations may be needed to unlock the full potential of iron oxide as a catalyst.

Demko, A. R., Dillier, C. A., Morrow, G. R., Sammet, T., Grossman, K., Seal, S., & Petersen, E. L.

Demko, Andrew R||Dillier, Catherine A||Morrow, Gordon R||Sammet, Thomas||Grossman, Kevin||Seal, Sudipta||Petersen, Eric L

Laboratory-Scale Burning of Composite Solid Propellant Using In-Situ Synthesized Iron Oxide Conference Paper