Effect of Double Sizes (Coarse/Fine) Ammonium Perchlorate on the Viscosity of Composite Solid Propellant

Concentrated suspension of binders in composite propellant causes a complex phenomena so that controlling of rheology properties is difficult due to high percentage of fillers. Composite solid propellant contains paste suspension of mixtures of different components, e.g. oxidizer, fuel and binder. Increasing the percentage of solid phase without increment of viscosity is an important subject in the production of solid propellant. This problem can be solved using two different particle sizes distribution. Five samples of composite solid propellants on the basis of hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) with 85% of solid phase containing dual sizes of ammonium perchlorate (AP) have been prepared. These samples have different coarse/fine ratios between 80/20 to 60/40. It was found that optimum temperature for casting of propellant is greater than 40C. The best ratio for obtaining the least viscosity is 70/30 coarse/fine ratio.