A model for plasma ignition of solid propellant

Summary form only given. Plasma ignition of solid propellant is a crucial and challenging task in the development of the electrothermal-chemical (ETC) gun technology. In this work, an attempt is made to develop a model for the ignition process of solid propellant submitted to a plasma flux. Comprehensive physical and chemical processes are taken into account, including the heat conduction in the solid propellant, heat release from condensed phase thermal decomposition and subsequent chemical reaction, as well as energy feedback from gas phase chemical reaction. Results are obtained for ignition delay, time dependent temperature profile in both solid propellant and gas phase, and pressure track during the ignition process. The influence of plasma temperature and pressure on the ignition characteristics is analyzed. Finally, calculation results are compared with experiment results in order to evaluate the prediction accuracy.