Rocket Propulsion Report

Rocket Propulsion Report
Solid propellant processing
Issues and challenges By Aayush Saxena (13AE30024)

Introduction
When we think of rockets, an image pops up in our mind of a large rocket soaring up producing tremendous amount of thrust as well as smoke. The image above shows the launch of Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV-III) firing up its first stage solid boosters. Now the thing that produces this enormous amount of thrust that drives the rocket up is the propellant. A propellant is basically a chemical substance that produces this enormous amount of gas, which is ejected at high pressure from a specially designed nozzle to get the required amount of thrust. Two basic ways of producing gas is by either

These components can act on their own as fuels. Double base propellants are also known as homogeneous propellants. Most commonly used double base propellant is composed of Nitroglycerine and nitrocellulose. Generally one of the component is a high energy fuel but is unstable on its own so it needs a second component which acts as a stabilizing agent as well as an auxiliary fuel. In case of Nitroglycerine, it contains enough oxygen for complete oxidation, but it is highly unstable so it is mixed mixed nitrocellulose to form a stable propellant and hence the name double base propellant. Double base propellants are used in anti tank weapons and battlefield missiles. They produce specific impulse of about 235 sec which can be further improved to about 250 sec with the addition of metal

Nitroglycerine is so sensitive that it may explode even with a shock. The composition of the Nitroglycerine and nitrocellulose is not fixed, but the nitroglycerine is majorly in greater quantities in most of the propellants. Composition of nitroglycerine can vary from about 70% to as high as 93% rest being the nitrocellulose. There are a wide variety of explosives and propellants that uses nitroglycerine as a major fuel, some of them are dynamite, RDX, TNT etc. Each of them mixes nitroglycerine with some neural compound or some other fuel to stabilize it. Decomposition reaction of nitroglycerine is shown below.

Above image shows nitrocellulose, although it is an explosive but it has a wide variety of applications. It is a polymer, it is used in making plastics. It is also called as guncotton. It is used in table tennis balls and in other smokeless explosives.

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