Effects of oxidizer particle size on propellants based on modified polyvinyl chloride

The effects of the oxidizer particle size and size distribution on the burn ing rate of composite solid-rocket-propellant series known as Flexolite hav e been presented in this paper. All Flexolite-series propellants are based on modified polyvinyl chloride as binder and ammonium perchlorate as oxidiz er. Different compositions of non-aluminized and aluminized propellants hav e been studied experimentally, and burning rates were reported in this pape r. Results were obtained for propellants compositions using different ammon ium perchlorate particle sizes from fine (20 mu) to coarse (200 mu). It was shown that the oxidizer size has a substantial effect upon the burning rat e. As would be expected, it was determined that the burning rate was higher for the smaller oxidizer size. Also, effect of catalyst (Fe2O3) is examine d on aluminized propellants with a fixed fraction of aluminum mass. All bur ning rates were measured in a special test motor at different pressures, us ing small-motor measurement method.