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

Observations on the combustion of boron slurry droplets in air

Journal Article · · Combust. Flame; (United States)

Single fiber-supported slurry droplets composed of boron in JP-10 were ignited and burned in room-temperature air. Initial droplet diameters ranged from 1.2 to 3.0 mm and initial boron weight fractions f from 0 to 0.7. It was observed that although the liquid fuel apparently burns completely the boron does not ignite under these experimental conditions. For the pure liquid the combustion is smooth with a measured burning-rate constant of 0.43 mm/sup 2//s. At low f there is periodic swelling of the droplet with mildly disruptive emission of gas from the interior; the severity of this irregularity is greatest for f approx. = 0.1 and negligible for f greater than or equal to 0.2. For f less than or equal to 0.4 a reduction in droplet diameter, according to a d/sup 2/ law, is observed for a period of time, followed by a burning period of essentially constant diameter. For f greater than or equal to 0.5, the droplet diameter remains practically constant during combustion, although the measured burning time conforms to a d/sup 2/ law. These observations are compared quantitatively with theoretical predictions and are found to agree within accuracies ranging from 10% to 25%.

Research Organization:
AT and T Engineering Research Center, P.O. Box 900, Princeton, NJ
OSTI ID:
7100070
Journal Information:
Combust. Flame; (United States), Journal Name: Combust. Flame; (United States) Vol. 67:1; ISSN CBFMA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English