PREDICTION OF LIFE TIMES OF PROPELLANTS - IMPROVED KINETIC DESCRIPTION OF THE STABILIZER CONSUMPTION

An equation for the decrease of stabilizer content in propellants is g iven, which describes the measured consumption of stabilizers such as diphenylamine, 2-nitrodiphenylamine, acardite II and ethylcentralite v ery well. The equation was obtained with a kinetic formulation for the stabilizer depletion, which combines the reactions of first and zero order. According to this model, the times up to a complete consumption of the stabilizer are finite (they are infinite if the decrease is pu rely exponential), and can be calculated with the reaction rate consta nts of the model. The prediction of the life times is considerably imp roved. This new equation allows a normalized representation of the sta bilizer decrease, which can reveal mechanistic changes in the course o f the reaction.