Effects of oxidizer particle size on propellants based on modified polyvinyl chloride

Abstract

The effects of the oxidizer particle size and size distribution on the burning rate of composite solid-rocket-propellant series known as Flexolite have been presented in this paper. All Flexolite-series propellants are based on modified polyvinyl chloride as binder and ammonium perchlorate as oxidizer. Different compositions of non-aluminized and aluminized propellants have been studied experimentally, and burning rates were reported in this paper. Results were obtained for propellants compositions using different ammonium perchlorate particle sizes from fine (20 mu) to coarse (200 mu). It was shown that the oxidizer size has a substantial effect upon the burning rate. As would be expected, it was determined that the burning rate was higher for the smaller oxidizer size. Also, effect of catalyst (Fe2O3) is examined on aluminized propellants with a fixed fraction of aluminum mass. All burning rates were measured in a special test motor at different pressures, using small-motor measurement method.