Development of bimetallic spinel catalysts for low-temperature decomposition of ammonium dinitramide monopropellants

Ammonium dinitramide(ADN)based liquid monopropellants have been identified as environmentally benign substitutes for hydrazine monopropellant.However,new catalysts are to be developed for making ADN monopropellants cold-start capable.In the present study,performance of Co and Ba doped CuCr_2O_4 nanocatalysts prepared by hydrothermal method was evaluated on the decomposition of aqueous ADN solution and ADN liquid monopropellant(LMP103X).The catalysts were characterized by PXRD(Powder X-ray Diffraction),FTIR(Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy),SEM(Scanning Electron Microscopy),TEM(Transmission Electron Microscopy),EDS(Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy),and XPS(X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy).The nanosize was confirmed by SEM and TEM,while the nanoflake morphology was confirmed by the SEM analysis.Further,we obtained the elemental composition from the EDS analysis.We investigated the catalytic activity of the catalysts by thermogravimetric(TG)analysis and the developed catalysts lowered the decomposition temperature of ADN monopropellant by about 55℃.The XPS analysis confirmed the presence of metal ions with different chemical states.Apparently,increase in the surface area of the catalysts and the mixed active sites as well as the development of oxygen vacancy on the catalyst surface introduced by metal doping are influencing the decomposition temperature of ADN samples.

Design and experimental research of a sub-Newton N_(2)O monopropellant thruster with inner-heater

Nitrous oxide(N_(2)O)is a green propellant with excellent application prospects.A subNewton N_(2)O monopropellant thruster with inner-heater and a N_(2)O self-pressurization stable supply system with regenerative heat compensation are designed in this paper.The experimental research of the thruster is described,including measurements of preheating power,activation temperature,vacuum thrust,specific impulse,life-span and pulsed operation performance.By inserting the heater into the catalyst-bed,preheating efficiency of the heater is significantly improved compared to the thruster with outer-heater.Thus,the preheating power demand of the thruster is successfully reduced to around 10 W.The mean vacuum thrust of 322 mN is attained and the corresponding specific impulse reaches 162s at the mass flow rate of 0.2 g/s.Successful activation temperature of 523 K is achieved,and the activation performance of the thruster is affected by the loading factor.A long term hot-firing test longer than 12000 s is attained.The pulsed operation performance of the inner-preheating thruster is also studied by measuring chamber pressure.Impulses with different magnitudes are produced by adjusting the opening duration of the control valve.A minimum impulse of 81 mN·s is attained.Finally,the performance of the thruster is evaluated by comparison with other thrusters of the same type.The results indicate that the proposed thruster with inner-heater is superior in terms of preheating power,activation temperature and specific impulse performance.

Analysis of Porosity and Preheating Temperature on the Decomposition and Combustion Characteristics within 5 N Ammonium Dinitramide(ADN)-based Monopropellant Thruster

In this study,the effects of porosity of the fore-catalytic bed and after-catalytic bed and preheat temperature on the decomposition and combustion characteristics of a 5N ammonium dinitramide(ADN)-based thruster were numerically investigated in terms of the distribution of components,temperature,and pressure.The results indicated that the porosity of the fore-catalytic bed and preheating temperature significantly affected the decomposition and combustion characteristics.The porosity of the fore-catalytic bed was optimized,and the thrust performance was demonstrated to improve with increasing of porosity of the after-catalytic bed and pre-heating temperature.The results were favorable for the investigation of decomposition and combustion characteristics and could also be beneficial to the design and manufacture of different types of ADN-based thrusters.

Ignition and Extinction of Monopropellant Droplet with Lewis Number Different from Unity

E.T.S.I. Aeronauticos, Univ. Ploitecnica de Madrid, Plaza Cardenal Cisneros 3, 28400-Madrid, Espana

Catalytic effect of platinum and silver in a hydrogen peroxide monopropellant ceramic microthruster

Ceramic microthrusters with an embedded Pt resistive heater,two temperature sensors,and a Pt or Ag catalytic bed were made of high-temperature co-fired alumina ceramics.To increase the surface area by a factor of 1.21,and so the catalytic effect,the Pt catalytic bed was made porous by mixing the Pt paste with 15—20vol.%graphite sacrificial paste before screen printing it.Ag was in-situ electroplated on the porous Pt surface after sintering.Decomposition of 50wt.%hydrogen peroxide as a monopropellant was studied both qualitatively and quantitatively by changing the catalyst(between Ag and Pt),flow rate(15—55 μl/min),and operating temperature(115—300℃).A reference device without catalyst exhibited an unstable behavior as a result of no,or vety little,decomposition,whereas the Ag catalyst was more stable,and the Pt one even more stable.Also,Pt was found to be slightly more effective.Quantitatively,there were small differences between Pt and Ag in the power needed to maintain the temperature.The inventive methods to make the Pt bed porous as well as in-situ electroplating Ag were success-fully demonstrated.

Low toxic nitromethane based monopropellant for gas generator cycle air turbo ramjet engine

The present study proposes ethanol-nitromethane mixture as a safe, storable, andlow toxic monopropellant for a gas generator cycle air turbo ramjet engine and evaluates itspropulsion performance. The present study proposes that nitromethane is mixed with ethanolto adjust gas generator combustion temperature. The author developed the computational codefor the present analysis and verified its accuracy. The specific thrust of ethanol-nitromethane isnearly identical to that of ethanol-liquified oxygen and is higher than methanol-hydroxylammonium nitrate aqueous solution and hydrazine. Hydrazine has the highest Ispamong the propellants in the present analysis. However, Isp of ethanol-nitromethane is nearlyequal to that of ethanol-liquified oxygen and higher than those of methanol-hydroxylammonium nitrate aqueous solution, and hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene-ammonium perchlorate. With the propellant-to-air ratio range in the present study, ethanol-nitromethane has the stoichiometric condition at the ram combustor around the propellant-to-air ratio range from 0.2 to 0.25 and can obtain high ram combustion temperature. This resultis favorable for ethanol-nitromethane because it improves the specific thrust and the specificimpulse. Therefore, ethanol-nitromethane can be a promising low-toxic liquid monopropellantfor the air turbo ramjet engine.