Ignition Studies on Aluminised Propellant.

Abstract

An experimental investigation on the ignition of metallised propellants (APIHTPB/AI) has been carried out 10 determine the ignition delay, minimum ignition energy and corresponding heat flux,threshold heat flux for ignition and minimum ignition temperature, Ignition experiments were conductedusing a shock tube under convectiveheating conditions similar to those prevailingin a rocket motor. Heat flux at propellant location was measured by thin film heat flux gauge and also calculated from a ribbon thermocouple output under similar test conditions. The igntion delay was measured as the time lag between the arrival of hot gas at the propellant and the light emission due to actual ignition of the propellant. The experimental results indicate that the ignition delay characteristics are independent of pressure. The minimum energy for ignition obtained for the propellant is 1100J/m2 corresponding to the heat flux range of 80·120 WIcm2 for a gas velocity of 110 mls. The threshold heat flux required to ignite the propellant was 40 W/cm2 at a velocity of 110 mls. Heat flux corresponding to minimum ignition energy and the threshold heat flux increase with gas velocity. The threshold ignition temperature of the propellant was found to be 600 ± 20 K.