RESEARCH ON SOLID PROPELLANT IGNITABILITY AND IGNITER CHARACTERISTICS

摘要

The purpose of this research was to study the ignition of composite solid propellants in a small rocker motor. Hot gaseous products from a small gas-fed pyrogentype igniter supplied a convective ignition stimulus to the internal surface of a thin-webbed, cylindrical solid propellant grain. The gas rocket igniter is a valuable tool for investigating the essential nature of the ignition process because it offers a wide range of controllable parameters such as heat transfer, chemical reactivity of the igniting gas, flame temperature, mass flow, chamber pressure and solid propellant composition. The results of this study are expected to contribute to an understanding of the overall propellant ignition process and, thus, to lead to the development of improved igniter design criteria.nMany earlier studies of the solid propellant ignition processes centered on the theory that ignition was due to chemical heat generation in the solid phase. In most instances, as in the case to this research, the interval between the commencement of heating and the subsequent ignition of the solid propellant sample was measured. Generally, the ignition delay was found to decrease with increasing pressure and increasing reactivity in the surrounding atmosphere.