Rheological Characterization of NASA Propellant and Modeling / Simulation of the Mixing Process for Scale-Up to Production

摘要

Rheological Data-The following conclusions are drawn from the conducted experimental work: 1. The mix quality from the Thermo Haake experiments was generally good, yielding a uniform, homogeneous mix. The Specific Energy Input increased as the Ammonium Perchlorate (AP) concentration increased. 2. Overall, the Complex Viscosity data generated by the RDA Ⅲ is generally reproducible with the exception of Mix Ⅲ. 3. The Complex Viscosity increased as the AP concentration increased. Mixes Ⅰ and Ⅱ were found to be near-Newtonian in nature, but exhibited a small slope for viscosity-frequency curve (a weak power-law); Mix Ⅲ was 100% power-law; while Mix Ⅳ and Mix Ⅴ were typical suspension with higher sensitivity at the lower shear range of 0.1 to 1.0 rad/s, and slight power-law from 1.0 to 100 rad/s. 4. The Complex Viscosity of all five mixes decreased as the temperature increased. Model and Simulation-With the help of the rheological data it can concluded that from the model, with all ingredients in the 8PI vertical mixer, that: 1. Mix Ⅴ takes approximately 2.5 minutes for the material to be distributed throughout the mixer. 2. The Time Average Efficiency of Mixing at 150 second shows a uniform physical distortion of the particles. 3. The segregation scale of Mix Ⅴ levels to approximately .007 at about 2 minutes.