The Army Futures Command integrates the Future Force Modernization Enterprise to develop concepts, force designs, requirements, technology, and ensures timely delivery of materiel solutions required by our Army to deter and, when necessary, decisively defeat any adversary. To achieve this goal, the US Army had been producing propellant using several types of processing method. What is a propellant? A propellant, any gas, liquid, or solid the expansion of which can be used to impart motion to another substance or object. A solid propellant consists of several chemical ingredients such as oxidizer, fuel, binder, plasticizer, curing agent, stabilizer, and cross-linking agent. The specific chemical composition depends on the desired combustion characteristics for a particular mission.
The propellant process consists of Solvent and Solvent-less processes. The solvent process consists of mixing with a solvent, ram extrusion and drying. The solventless process is a closed loop system where the slurry water from the centrifuge is recycled back into the system and any losses are made up with motive water from the Nitroglycerin (NG) transfer. The solventless process do not have hazardous waste generated to the environment. The solventless process include a slurry process to incorporate all the formulation constituents, centrifuging to generate pastes, addition of solid particles and finally rolling and extrusion of carpet rolls into propellant rocket grains in preparation for the characterization. The current production of composite rocket propellants using isocyanate cast cure process involves the use of chemicals, including ammonium perchlorate (AP), triphenylbismuth (TPB), isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI), aluminum (Al), and triphenylbismuth (TPB), in the formulations. The cast cure process requires several days of curing and extended curing after assembly into a rocket motor. The solvent and solventless process had been successfully used for the manufacture of legacy gun and low energy rocket propellants at Radford Army Ammunition Plant.
This presentation will discuss different types of manufacturing propellants.
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