Flow improvement of fine propellant powder using nano-additives

Abstract

Ammonium Perchlorate (AP) is an oxidizer and major component for any solid omposite propellant fuel. The handling and processing of AP powder plays an important role in the performance of rocket fuel. AP being hygroscopic in nature; especially particle size less than 50µm are very much cohesive in nature which results extensive agglomeration and poor flowability. This causes inherent andling problem in propellant processing plant. In this work, flowability of 8 µm and 50 µm AP particle is improved through dry coating method using Nano additives such as TiO2 and Fe2O3. In addition, the influence of hydrophobic Nano-silica (R972 type) coating on AP particle under high humidity is investigated. The results show that coating of AP with Nanoadditive reduces the inter-particle forces hence cohesivity and improve the packing and flowability of fine AP owder. Hydrophobic coating found to have added advantage at higher humidity. This is expected to improve the handling and processing of propellant powder for better rocket fuel.