Chemical analysis of aluminum as a propellant ingredient and determinationof aluminum and aluminum nitride in condensed combustion products

A brief survey of typical problems in the analysis of aluminum powder in al uminized solid propellants and in analysis of condensed combustion products of these propellants was carried out. Recommendations for applying the ver sions developed by the authors of the known methods are given. The permanga natometric variant of the titrimetric method was found suitable for most ta sks concerning the measuring of the metallic/unburned aluminum. The determi nation of aluminum nitride in combustion products using the combination of chemical and X-ray diffraction methods was described and illustrated by res ults obtained from condensed combustion products of propellant formulations containing highly active ultrafine aluminum powder. Even for this formulat ion the content of aluminum nitride in the final condensed combustion produ cts was found to be negligibly small independently of the nature of the gas (argon or nitrogen) used for bomb pressurization.