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Formulation, Casting, and Evaluation of Paraffin-Based Solid Fuels Containing Energetic and Novel Additives for Hybrid RocketsThis investigation studied the inclusion of various additives to paraffin wax for use in a hybrid rocket motor. Some of the paraffin-based fuels were doped with various percentages of LiAlH4 (up to 10%). Addition of LiAlH4 at 10% was found to increase regression rates between 7 - 10% over baseline paraffin through tests in a gaseous oxygen hybrid rocket motor. Mass burn rates for paraffin grains with 10% LiAlH4 were also higher than those of the baseline paraffin. RDX was also cast into a paraffin sample via a novel casting process which involved dissolving RDX into dimethylformamide (DMF) solvent and then drawing a vacuum on the mixture of paraffin and RDX/DMF in order to evaporate out the DMF. It was found that although all DMF was removed, the process was not conducive to generating small RDX particles. The slow boiling generated an inhomogeneous mixture of paraffin and RDX. It is likely that superheating the DMF to cause rapid boiling would likely reduce RDX particle sizes. In addition to paraffin/LiAlH4 grains, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) were cast in paraffin for testing in a hybrid rocket motor, and assorted samples containing a range of MWNT percentages in paraffin were imaged using SEM. The fuel samples showed good distribution of MWNT in the paraffin matrix, but the MWNT were often agglomerated, indicating that a change to the sonication and mixing processes were required to achieve better uniformity and debundled MWNT. Fuel grains with MWNT fuel grains had slightly lower regression rate, likely due to the increased thermal conductivity to the fuel subsurface, reducing the burning surface temperature.
Document ID
20120015355
Acquisition Source
Marshall Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Larson, Daniel B.
(Pennsylvania State Univ. University Park, PA, United States)
Desain, John D.
(Aerospace Corp. El Segundo, CA, United States)
Boyer, Eric
(Pennsylvania State Univ. University Park, PA, United States)
Wachs, Trevor
(Pennsylvania State Univ. University Park, PA, United States)
Kuo, Kenneth K.
(Pennsylvania State Univ. University Park, PA, United States)
Borduin, Russell
(Texas Univ. Austin, TX, United States)
Koo, Joseph H.
(Texas Univ. Austin, TX, United States)
Brady, Brian B.
(Aerospace Corp. El Segundo, CA, United States)
Curtiss, Thomas J.
(Aerospace Corp. El Segundo, CA, United States)
Story, George
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Date Acquired
August 26, 2013
Publication Date
July 9, 2012
Subject Category
Propellants And Fuels
Report/Patent Number
M12-1925
M12-1926
M12-1889
Meeting Information
Meeting: 9th International Symposium on Special Topics in Chemical Propulsion/Energetic Materials and Chemical Propulsion
Location: Quebec City
Country: Canada
Start Date: July 9, 2012
End Date: July 13, 2012
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
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