Deconsolidation and combustion performance of thermally consolidated propellants deterred by multi-layers coating

Both heating and solvent-spray methods are used to consolidate the standard grains of double-base oblate sphere propellants plasticized with triethyleneglycol dinitrate (TEGDN) (TEGDN propellants) to high density propellants. The obtained consolidated propellants are deterred and coated with the slow burning multi-layer coating. The maximum compaction density of deterred and coated consolidated propellants can reach up to 1.39 g/cm³. Their mechanic, deconsolidation and combustion performances are tested by the materials test machine, interrupted burning set-up and closed vessel, respectively. The static compression strength of consolidated propellants deterred by multi-layer coating increases significantly to 18 MPa, indicating that they can be applied in most circumstances of charge service. And the samples are easy to deconsolidate in the interrupted burning test. Furthermore, the closed bomb burning curves of the samples indicate a two-stage combustion phenomenon under the condition of certain thickness of coated multi-layers. After the outer deterred multi-layer coating of consolidated samples is finished burning, the inner consolidated propellants continue to burn and breakup into aggregates and grains. The high burning progressivity can be carefully obtained by the smart control of deconsolidation process and duration of consolidated propellants. The preliminary results of consolidated propellants show that a rapid deconsolidation process at higher deconsolidation pressure is presented in the dynamic vivacity curves of closed bomb test. Higher density and higher macro progressivity of consolidated propellants can be obtained by the techniques in this paper.     

Cell structure of microcellular combustible object foamed by supercritical carbon dioxide

In order to solve the issue that the combustible objects for cased telescoped ammunition (CTA) didn't burn completely during the combustion process, the microcellular combustible objects were foamed with numerous cells in the micron order to improve the combustion performance by the supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO₂) foaming technology. As the cell structure determined the combustion properties of microcellular combustible objects, the solubility of SCCO₂ dissolved into the combustible objects was obtained from the gravimetric method, and scanning electron microscope (SEM) was applied to characterize the cell structure under various process conditions of solubility, foaming temperature and foaming time. SEM images indicate that the cell diameter of microcellular combustible objects is in the level of 1 μm and the cell density is about 10¹¹ cell⋅cm⁻³. The microcellular combustible objects fabricated by the SCCO₂ foaming technology are smooth and uniform, and the high specific surface area of cell structure can lead to the significant combustion performance of microcellular combustible object for CTA in the future.     

Burning characteristics of high density foamed GAP/CL-20 propellants

The monolithic foamed propellants with high densities were prepared by casting and two-step foaming processes. Glycidyl azide polymer (GAP) and isocyanate were used as the binder system and 2,4,6,8,10,12-hexanitro-2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaazaisowurtzitane (HNIW, CL-20) was employed as the energetic component. The newly designed formulation containing 60 % CL-20 produced a force constant of 1077 J/g and low flame temperature of 2817 K. Two foamed propellants with densities of 1.32 g/cm³ and 1.53 g/cm³ were fabricated by a confined foaming process and examined by closed bomb tests. The results revealed that porosity significantly affects burning performance. A size effect on combustion behaviors was observed for the foamed propellant with 5.56 % porosity, and a double-hump progressive dynamic vivacity curve was obtained. At last, the 30 mm gun test was carried out to demonstrate the interior ballistic performance, and the muzzle velocity increased by 120 m/s at the same maximum chamber pressure when monolithic propellant was added in the charge.     

Burning characteristics of microcellular combustible objects

Microcellular combustible objects for application of combustible case, caseless ammunition or combustible detonator-holding tubes are fabricated through one-step foaming process, in which supercritical CO₂ is used as foaming agent. The formulations consist of inert polymer binder and ultra fine RDX. For the inner porous structures of microcellular combustible objects, the cell sizes present a unimodal or bimodal distribution by adjusting the foaming conditions. Closed bomb test is to investigate the influence of both porous structure style and RDX content on burning behavior. The sample with bimodal distribution of cell sizes burns faster than that with unimodal distribution, and the concentration of RDX can influence the burning characteristics in a positive manner. In addition, the translation of laminar burning to convective burning is determined by burning rate versus pressure curves of samples at two different loading densities, and the resulting transition pressure is 30 MPa. Moreover, the samples with bigger sample size present higher burning rate, resulting in providing deeper convective depth. Dynamic vivacity of samples is also studied. The results show that the vivacity increases with RDX content and varies with inner structure.     

Influence of Al2O3 particles on the microstructure and mechanical properties of copper surface composites fabricated by friction stir processing

The influence of three factors, such as volume percentage of reinforcement particles (i.e. Al₂O₃), tool tilt angle and concave angle of shoulder, on the mechanical properties of Cu–Al₂O₃ surface composites fabricated via friction stir processing was studied. Taguchi method was used to optimize these factors for maximizing the mechanical properties of surface composites. The fabricated surface composites were examined by optical microscope for dispersion of reinforcement particles. It was found that Al₂O₃ particles are uniformly dispersed in the stir zone. The tensile properties of the surface composites increased with the increase in the volume percentage of the Al₂O₃ reinforcement particles. This is due to the addition of the reinforcement particles which increases the temperature of recrystallization by pinning the grain boundaries of the copper matrix and blocking the movement of the dislocations. The observed mechanical properties are correlated with microstructure and fracture features.     

Discrete repairable reliability systems

Consider a reliability system consisting of n components. The failures and the repair completions of the components can occur only at positive integer-valued times k ϵ N₊₊ ϵ (1, 2, …). At any time k ϵ N₊₊ each component can be in one of two states: up (i.e., working) or down (i.e., failed and in repair). The system state is also either up or down and it depends on the states of the components through a coherent structure function τ. In this article we formulate mathematically the above model and we derive some of its properties. In particular, we identify conditions under which the first failure times of two such systems can be stochastically ordered. A variety of special cases is used in order to illustrate the applications of the derived properties of the model. Some instances in which the times of first failure have the NBU (new better than used) property are pointed out. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The surface activation of boron to improve ignition and combustion characteristic

Boron is a very promising and highly attractive fuel because of high calorific value. However, the practical applications in explosives and propellants of boron have been limited by long ignition delay time and low combustion efficiency. Herein, nano-Al and graphene fluoride (GF) as surface activated materials are employed to coat boron (B) particles to improve ignition and combustion performance. The reaction heat of nano-Al coated B/KNO₃ and GF coated B/KNO₃ are 1116.83 J/g and 862.69 J/g, respectively, which are higher than that of pure B/KNO₃ (823.39 J/g). The ignition delay time of B/KNO₃ could be reduced through nano-Al coating. The shortest ignition delay time is only 75 ms for B coated with nano-Al of 8 wt%, which is much shorter than that of pure B/KNO₃ (109 ms). However, the ignition delay time of B/KNO₃ coated with GF has been increased from 109 to 187 ms. B coated with GF and nano-Al shown significantly influence on the pressure output and flame structure of B/KNO₃. Furthermore, the effects of B/O ratios on the pressure output and ignition delay time have been further fully studied. For B/KNO₃ coated with nano-Al and GF, the highest pressures are 88 KPa and 59 KPa for B/O ratio of 4:6, and the minimum ignition delay time are 94 ms and 148 ms for B/O ratio of 7:3. Based on the above results, the reaction process of boron coated with GF and nano-Al has been proposed to understand combustion mechanism.     

The non-isothermal gravimetric method for study the thermal decomposition kinetic of HNBB and HNS explosives

The hexanitrostilben (HNS) is a thermally stable explosive that can be prepared from hexanitrobibenzyl (HNBB). Therefore, the investigation of thermal stability of HNBB can be important in the yield of preparation of HNS. The decomposition kinetic of HNBB and HNS are studied by non-isothermal gravimetric method. The TG/DTG curves in non-isothermal method are obtained in range of 25°C–400 °C at heating rates of 3 °C/min, 5 °C/min, 8 °C/min, 10 °C/min and 12 °C/min. The data of weight-temperature are used for calculation of activation energy (E_a) of thermal decomposition reactions by methods of Ozawa, Kissinger, Ozawa-Flynn-Wall (OFW) and Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS) as model-free methods and Strink's equation as model-fitting method. The compensation effect is used for prediction of mechanism and determination of pre-exponential factor (lnA) of the decomposition reaction. A reduction 60 kj/mol for the average of activation energy of thermal decomposition reaction of HNBB is obtained versus HNS. This result shows the lower thermal stability of HNBB in comparison to HNS. The Avrami equation (A_3/2) with function f(α) = 3/2(1-α)[-ln(1-α)]^1/3 indicates the predicted mechanism for thermal decomposition reaction both explosives.     

Recent advances in catalytic combustion of AP-based composite solid propellants

Composite solid propellants (CSPs) have widely been used as main energy source for propelling the rockets in both space and military applications. Internal ballistic parameters of rockets like characteristic exhaust velocity, specific impulse, thrust, burning rate etc., are measured to assess and control the performance of rocket motors. The burn rate of solid propellants has been considered as most vital parameter for design of solid rocket motors to meet specific mission requirements. The burning rate of solid propellants can be tailored by using different constituents, extent of oxidizer loading and its particle size and more commonly by incorporating suitable combustion catalysts. Various metal oxides (MOs), complexes, metal powders and metal alloys have shown positive catalytic behaviour during the com-bustion of CSPs. These are usually solid-state catalysts that play multiple roles in combustion of CSPs such as reduction in activation energy, enhancement of rate of reaction, modification of sequences in reaction-phase, influence on condensed-phase combustion and participation in combustion process in gas-phase reactions. The application of nanoscale catalysts in CSPs has increased considerably in recent past due to their superior catalytic properties as compared to their bulk-sized counterparts. A large surface-to-volume ratio and quantum size effect of nanocatalysts are considered to be plausible reasons for improving the combustion characteristics of propellants. Several efforts have been made to produce nanoscale combustion catalysts for advanced propellant formulations to improve their energetics. The work done so far is largely scattered. In this review, an effort has been made to introduce various combustion catalysts having at least a metallic entity. Recent developments of nanoscale combustion catalysts with their specific merits are discussed. The combustion chemistry of a typical CSP is briefly discussed for providing a better understanding on role of combustion catalysts in burning rate enhancement. Available information on different types of combustion nanocatalysts is also presented with critical comments.     

Effect of nano powder (Al2O3-CaO) addition on the mechanical properties of the polymer blend matrix composite

This work describes the preparation and study of the properties of composite nanoparticles prepared by the sol-gel method which consists of two materials (Al₂O₃-CaO), and study the effect of these nanoparticles on the mechanical behavior of a polymer blend (EP 4% + 96% UPE). The powder was evaluated by X-ray diffraction analysis, scanning electron microscopy analysis (SEM), particle size analysis, and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). The mechanical behavior of the composite material was assessed by tensile test, bending test and hardness test. The evaluation results of the composite nanoparticles showed good distribution of the chemical composition between aluminum oxide and calcium oxide, smoothness in particles' size at calcination in high and low temperatures, formation of different shapes of nanoparticles and different (kappa and gamma) phases of the Al₂O₃ particles. The results of mechanical behavior tests showed marked improvement in the mechanical properties of the resulted composite material, especially at 1.5%, compared with polymer blend material without nano powder addition. The tensile properties improved about (24 and 14.9) % and bending resistance about (23.5 and 16.8) % and hardness by (25 and 22) % when adding particles of size (63.8 and 68.6) respectively. Therefore, this reflects the efficiency of the proposed method to manufacture the nanocomposite powder and the possibility of using this powder as a strengthening material for the composite materials and using these composite materials in bio applications, especially in the fabrication of artificial limbs.     

A note on two IFR systems

We present probabilistic proofs for the following two facts: (i) A k out of n system of i.i.d (independent identically distributed). IFR (increasing failure rate) components has an IFR life distribution. (ii) A compound Poisson process with nonnegative i.i.d jumps with PF₂ distribution is IFR.     

The deformation and failure mechanism of cylindrical shell and square plate with pre-formed holes under blast loading

The deformation and failure mechanism of cylindrical shells and square plate with pre-formed holes under blast loading were investigated numerically by employing the Ansys 17.0 and Ls-Dyna 971. To calibrate the numerical model, the experiments of square plates with pre-formed circle holes were modeled and the numerical results have a good agreement with the experiment data. The calibrated numerical model was used to study the deformation and failure mechanism of cylindrical shells with pre-formed circle holes subjected to blast loading. The structure response and stress field changing process has been divided into four specific stages and the deformation mechanism has been discussed systematically. The local and global deformation curves, degree of damage, change of stress status and failure modes of cylindrical shell and square plate with pre-formed circular holes are obtained, compared and analyzed, it can be concluded as: (1) The transition of tensile stress fields is due to the geometrical characteristic of pre-formed holes and cylindrical shell with arch configuration; (2) The existence of pre-formed holes not only lead to the increasing of stress concentration around the holes, but also release the stress concentration during whole response process; (3) There are three and two kinds of failure modes for square plate and cylindrical shell with pre-formed holes, respectively. and the standoff distance has a key influence on the forming location of the crack initiating point and the locus of crack propagation; (4) The square plate with pre-formed holes has a better performance than cylindrical shell on blast-resistant capability at a smaller standoff distance, while the influence of pre-formed holes on the reduction of blast-resistant capability of square plate is bigger than that of cylindrical shell.     

列车用复合材料阻燃性能研究

不同类别的阻燃剂配合使用能产生协效作用,大大提高阻燃效果。在甲基丙烯酸类不饱和聚酯树脂9001基体中,添加微囊化红磷/氢氧化铝/三氧化二锑/甲基膦酸二甲酯(MRP/Al(OH)3/Sb2O3/DMMP)阻燃剂体系,对其树脂体系固化物及玻璃纤维织物复合材料的力学性能和阻燃性能进行了实验研究,提出了一种有望用于列车复合材料大尺寸构件制造的性能优异、价格低廉的新体系。结果表明,当质量添加比例分别为12%MRP、50%Al(OH)3、2%Sb2O3时,树脂体系室温粘度100mPa.s左右,凝胶时间超过80min,适用于RTM和VIMP等大尺寸构件成型工艺;复合材料拉伸强度215.4MPa,弯曲强度177.15MPa,拉伸模量13.85GPa,弯曲模量13.36GPa,氧指数39.7。     

A minmax search for the critical level of a system: The asymmetric case

We consider a system composed of k components, each of which is subject to failure if temperature is above a critical level. The failure of one component causes the failure of the system as a whole (a serially connected system). If z_i is the critical temperature of the ith component then z^* = min{z_i: i = 1,2,…, k} is the critical level of the system. The components may be tested individually at different temperature levels, if the temperature is below the critical level the cost is $1, otherwise the test is destructive and the cost is m > 1 dollars. The purpose of this article is to construct, under a budgetary constraint, an efficient (in a minmax sense) testing procedure which will locate the critical level of the system with maximal accuracy.     

Transient analysis of Markov models of fault‐tolerant systems with deferred repair using split regenerative randomization

The (standard) randomization method is an attractive alternative for the transient analysis of continuous time Markov models. The main advantages of the method are numerical stability, well‐controlled computation error, and ability to specify the computation error in advance. However, the fact that the method can be computationally very expensive limits its applicability. In this paper, we develop a new method called split regenerative randomization, which, having the same good properties as standard randomization, can be significantly more efficient. The method covers reliability‐like models with a particular but quite general structure and requires the selection of a subset of states and a regenerative state satisfying some conditions. For a class of continuous time Markov models, model class C₂, including typical failure/repair reliability‐like models with exponential failure and repair time distributions and deferred repair, natural selections are available for both the subset of states and the regenerative state and, for those natural selections, theoretical results are available assessing the efficiency of the method in terms of “visible” model characteristics. Those results can be used to anticipate when the method can be expected to be competitive. We illustrate the application of the method using a large class C₂ model and show that for models in that class the method can indeed be significantly more efficient than previously available randomization‐based methods. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2006     

Fullerene bisadduct stabilizers: The effect of different addition positions on inhibiting the autocatalytic decomposition of nitrocellulose absorbed nitroglycerin

To explore the effect of different positions and number of pyrrolidine bound to the carbon cage on the stabilization effect of fulleropyrrolidine derivatives to nitrocellulose (NC)/nitroglycerine (NG), we synthesized N-(4-methoxy) phenylpyrrolidine-C₆₀ and four different of bis(N-(4-methoxy) phenylpyrrolidine)-C₆₀ compounds through Prato reaction. Their structures were characterized by UV–vis, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, high-resolution mass spectroscopy, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Their stabilization effect to NC/NG were investigated using differential scanning calorimetry, methyl violet, vacuum stabilization effect, weight loss, and accelerating rate calorimeter tests. The results indicated these compounds had excellent stabilization effect to NC/NG. The stabilization effect of the fulleropyrrolidine bisadducts to NC/NG is significantly better than that of fulleropyrrolidine monoadduct and C₆₀. Moreover, the position where pyrrolidine binds to fullerene in fulleropyrrolidine bisadducts is different, and its stabilization effect to NC is also different. The stabilization effect order of different bisadduct isomers to nitrocellulose is as follows: e-edge > trans-2> cis-2> trans-3. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and FT-IR were used to study the stabilization mechanism of fulleropyrrolidine derivatives to NC/NG. The EPR results also show that fulleropyrrolidine bisadducts with different addition sites have different abilities to absorb nitroxide, and their ability is better than that of the monoadduct and C₆₀, which is consistent with the results of stabilization effect performance test.     

A compound measure of dependability for systems modeled by continuous-time absorbing Markov processes

The Markov analysis of reliability models frequently involves a partitioning of the state space into two or more subsets, each corresponding to a given degree of functionality of the system. A common partitioning is G ∪ B ∪ {o}, where G (good) and B (bad) stand, respectively, for fully and partially functional sets of system states; o denotes system failure. Visits to B may correspond to, for instance, reparable system downtimes, whereas o will stand for irrecoverable system failure. Let T_G and N_B stand, respectively, for the total time spent in G, and the number of visits to B, until system failure. Both T_G and N_B are familiar system performance measures with well-known cumulative distribution functions. In this article a closed-form expression is established for the probability Pr[T_G <> t, N_B ≤ n], a dependability measure with much intuitive appeal but which hitherto seems not to have been considered in the literature. It is based on a recent result on the joint distribution of sojourn times in subsets of the state space by a Markov process. The formula is explored numerically by the example of a power transmission reliability model. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

用LIIF法测量DF/HF化学激光器喷管混合性能的数值分析

激光诱导碘荧光(LIIF)是一种很好的流场测量技术,为了验证该方法测量化学激光器流场混合性能的精度,模拟得到连续波DF HF化学激光器的HYLTE喷管冷流场,并计算了用氦碘混合气体作为氧化剂流、用氦气作为燃料流的HYLTE喷管的流场。通过比较前一流场中的氟原子和后一流场中的碘分子的摩尔百分比分布情况得知,当作为氧化剂流的氦碘混合物中碘的质量百分比在54%左右时,用LIIF法测量DF HF化学激光器喷管的混合情况具有较高的精度。     

Estimation of the kinetic parameters for thermal decomposition of HNIW and its adiabatic time-to-explosion by Kooij formula

A differential/integral method to estimate the kinetic parameters (apparent activation energy E_a and pre-exponential factor A) for thermal decomposition reaction of energetic materials based on Kooij formula are applied to study the nonisothermal decomposition reaction kinetics of hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane (HNIW) by analyzing nonisothermal DSC curve data. The apparent activation energy (E_a) obtained by the integral isoconversional non-isothermal method based on Kooij formula is used to check the constancy and validity of apparent activation energy by the differential/integral method based on Kooij formula. The most probable mechanism function of thermal decomposition reaction of HNIW is determined by a logical choice method. The equations for calculating the critical temperatures of thermal explosion (T_b) and adiabatic time-to-explosion (t_TIad) based on Kooij formula are used to calculate the values of T_b and t_TIad to evaluate the thermal safety and heat-resistant ability of HNIW. All the original data needed for analyzing the kinetic parameters are from nonisothermal DSC curves. The results show that the kinetic model function in differential form and the values of E_a and A of decomposition reaction of HNIW are 3(1 − α)[−ln(1 − α)]^2/3, 152.73 kJ mol⁻¹ and 10^11.97 s⁻¹, respectively, and the values of self-accelerating decomposition temperature (T_SADT), T_b and t_TIad are 486.55 K, 493.11 K and 52.01 s, respectively.