Investigation into the Effect of Stabiliser Content on the Minimum Characteristic Chamber Length for Homogeneously-Catalysed Hydrogen Peroxide

摘要

Rocket engines that use rocket-grade hydrogen peroxide (RGHP) normally rely on solid catalyst packs to achieve a heterogeneous catalytic reaction to decompose the propellant into steam and oxygen. The decomposition of highly stabilised hydrogen peroxide (HSHP) using a liquid catalyst offers an alternative to this approach. HSHP offers the prospect of longer-term storability and ease of handling compared with the relatively unstabilised rocketgrade hydrogen peroxide demanded by catalyst packs. However, one issue that has been hitherto ignored has been the extent to which stabilisers added to the HSHP at source might adversely affect its rapid decomposition. A test rig has been built to address this by attempting to estimate the length of chamber required for complete decomposition to take place. This has been done for the case of HSHP with a phosphorus content some 1000 times the level normally associated with rocket-grade material. These results have been compared with those for RGHP at the same concentration. The overall conclusion is that the stabiliser content has no significant effect on the observed decomposition rate.