Combustion characteristics of GAP-coated boron particles and the fuel-rich solid propellant

A process was employed that permits the coating of energetic glycidyl azide polymer (GAP) on the boron surface. Ignition and combustion behavior of single particle pure crystalline boron and GAP-coated boron at atmospheric pressure was studied experimentally by injecting the particles into the stream of hot gaseous environment of a flat-flame burner using premixed propane-oxygen-nitrogen gases. Chopped streak photographic observation was used to measure the ignition and combustion time. The flame temperature was fixed around 2343 K, but under wider O2 level range than previous investigations. Measurement results show that GAP coating can shorten boron particle ignition delay time, however, the effect diminishes as the O2 level in combustion gas decreases. Possible mechanisms based on relevant reactions and heat effects were proposed. Combustion characteristics of fuel-rich solid propellants based on GAP-coated amorphous boron particles and uncoated ones were compared using different techniques such as combustion phenomena observations by a windowed strand burner, quenched propellant surface morphology analysis by scanning electron microscope, and combustion residues size analysis from the quenched particle collection bomb experiments. It was concluded that GAP-coated amorphous-boron-based fuel-rich propellants exhibit more vigorous combustion phenomena, higher burning rates, and a lesser extent of residue agglomeration than the uncoated baseline propellant. Moreover, reaction mechanisms were proposed to elucidate the combustion products obtained in this study.