An Experimental Apparatus for Investigating the Kinetic Reactions in Solid Rocket Nozzles.

摘要

The present interest in carbon composite and bulk polycrystalline graphite materials for solid propellant rocket nozzles has occurred primarily due to the poor thermostructural performance of conventional pyrolytic graphite throat inserts as propellant flame temperature is increased. Circumvention of this problem has necessitated complex, multi-component nozzle configurations which are not only costly to fabricate but inherently less reliable than an integral design. Composite materials, in particular carbon-carbon composites, offer the potential of considerable improvement in manufacturing, reliability and performance attributes compared to pyrolytic graphite. However, their ablation response in the primarily rate-controlled ablation regime of rocket nozzles is poorly understood. At the present time their ablation response is being assessed using the same techniques previously applied to non-porous pyrolytic graphite; e.g., evaluation of the kinetic coefficients from measurements of recession rate in arc plasma generator (APG) facilities.