Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Radiative heating and erosive burn of a solid propellant subject to electrothermal plasma

Conference ·
OSTI ID:428041
;  [1]
  1. North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States). Dept. of Nuclear Engineering

Electrothermal-chemical (ETC) devices have shown a growing interest for possible various applications that exhibit the generation of high density, high enthalpy flows such as military guns. The interaction of electrothermal plasmas with solid or liquid propellants is not clearly understood. Several experiments have been conducted on specific propellants that show either enhanced burn rates or no effect from plasma impinging on the propellant. The question of whether the externally high heat flux produced from the electrothermal plasma will enhance the propellant burn rate, or the burn rate will be limited by the vapor shield at the combustion flame temperature is still unanswered. Erosive burn experiments conducted on JA-2 solid propellant have shown enhanced burn rates through plasma erosion. This paper explores the erosive burn and radiative heating, their implication on the ETC performance, and whether they re sufficient as augmentation and control mechanisms in electrothermal-chemical devices.

Sponsoring Organization:
Department of the Army, Washington, DC (United States); Office of Naval Research, Washington, DC (United States)
OSTI ID:
428041
Report Number(s):
CONF-960634--
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Surface erosion studies in a plasma-propellant interaction experiment
Conference · Fri Dec 30 23:00:00 EST 1994 · OSTI ID:42997

Modeling of normal and erosive burning rate of a hot double-base homogeneous propellant
Journal Article · Sun Mar 31 23:00:00 EST 1996 · Combustion and Flame · OSTI ID:215678

Modification of the composite propellant erosive burning model of Lenoir and Robillard
Journal Article · Tue Nov 30 23:00:00 EST 1976 · Combust. Flame; (United States) · OSTI ID:7226567