HYBRID-ROCKET MOTOR PERFORMANCE TRADE OFF WITH PARAFFIN BASED AND METALLOADED HTPB FUEL GRAINS

摘要

Research into hybrid rocket propulsion has been recently focused on the investigation of alternative fuels able to improve the notoriously low regression rate. Two main techniques are generally employed: add metal particles to the fuel grain or use liquefying fuels such as paraffin. This paper reports the preliminary experimental test results obtained on a lab-scale hybrid rocket burning gaseous oxygen and paraffin-based fuels. A comparison with the regression rates achieved from burning tests with gaseous oxygen and either pure HTPB or HTPB loaded with metallic particles is addressed. The regression rate obtained burning paraffin-based fuels appears to be not significantly higher than the one achieved with pure and loaded HTPB grains. A possible explanation is presented.