Solid Rocket Propellant

A solid rocket propellant is a heterogeneous mixture of metallic fuel,

oxidizer, binder cum fuel, ballistic modifier and other additives.
From: Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2008

Related terms:

Thermogravimetric Analysis, Oxidizer, Perchlorate, Ammonium Perchlorate,

Composite Propellant, Propellant

Solid Propellants
K.O. Hartman, Scott Morrow, in Encyclopedia of Physical Science and Technology
(Third Edition), 2003

V.B Rocket Propellant Requirements

Solid rocket propellant formulators must balance myriad requirements. As Dr. C.
H. Johnson, the Superintendent of Waltham Abbey, said in 1959, “So much is
required of a solid composition to earn the title ‘propellant’ that progress toward
higher performance is sure to be slow and difficult. ‘No road’ and ‘Cul de sac’ will
appear at frequent turnings along the way, but such trifles will not deter the true
craftsman in what is, after all, a splendid black art.” The truth of this sentiment has
been amply verified over the last 40 years. A list of the typical concerns is given in
Table VII.

TABLE VII. Typical Solid Rocket Propellant Properties and Constraints

Typical
Property range Comments

Impulse 240–270 Maximized for each given application

(lbf/lbm · sec)

Volumetric 13.5–18.5 Critical in volume-limited motors

impulse
(lbf/in.3 · sec)

Burning rate 0.2–2.0 Tailored for each application

(in./sec)

Pressure 0–0.7 Minimized for motors with fixed-area throats

exponent

Mechanical Tailored to carry mechanical loads over the motor

properties operating and storage conditions; low-temperature
thermal and ignition strain are critical for tactical
motors

  Modulus 400–1000
(psi)
 Typical
Property range Comments

 Stress (psi) 80–150

 Strain (%) 30–60

Processibility Mix, cast, and cure within minimal times; process

conditions and ingredients controlled

 Pot life (hr) 8–20

 Viscosity (kp) 2–10 Important for mold filling

Service life >10 Failure modes must be understood and predicted

(Years)

Exhaust plume Smokey– Minimize signature for short-range tactical rocket

smokeless motors, minimize toxic products

Acoustic Stable Minimize tendency for pressure oscillations

stability

Cost, cast in 5–10 Minimize life cycle cost

place ($/lb)

Sensitivity Class 1.1– Formulate for Class 1.3; minimize in-process

1.3 initiation sensitivity

Insensitive In progress Meet Mil Std-2105B for tactical rockets

munitions

Environmental Assessments Minimize environment impact during

impact underway manufacture, use, and/or demilitarization

Energy content is a driver for most formulation efforts, since it directly affects
payload, range, and/or time to target. Nonetheless, the other factors listed are also
critical for success. Over the last 10–15 years insensitive munitions requirements
and environmental constraints have become much more important, increasing the
challenge to the formulator.

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Rocket Motors, Solid

Edward W. Price, in Encyclopedia of Physical Science and Technology (Third
Edition), 2003

II Historical Background
Solid propellant rockets were first used by the Chinese some 2000 years ago, as
fireworks. They were adapted to artillery applications during the intervening
period, particularly in the period since 1700. Their primary advantage was the lack
of requirement for costly, heavy launchers and lack of recoil typical of guns.
However, their accuracy was so poor that they were not very effective weapons and
saw little use in World War I. Their utility was also limited before the 1940s by a
lack of good propellants and technology for making propellant charges. The rocket
pioneers of the 1890–1940 era often considered solid propellants for space flight,
and some efforts were made in that period to make larger, more efficient motors.
However, real progress awaited the availability of better propellants, developed first
for military applications during World War II.
In the period 1938–1942, all major powers were pursuing the development of solid
propellants and processing suitable for rocket applications. Initial efforts were
directed toward the adaptation of gun propellants, most of which were NC or NC–
NG colloids. Although great care was required, it was eventually found to be
possible to use the small gun propellant grains or sheet stock in a heated high-
pressure press and extrude properly shaped solid charges up to ∼45 kg (100 lb).
During World War II, millions of rockets having extruded propellant charges were
used. Although accuracy was poor compared with that of guns, the simple
requirements for launchers permitted enormous fire power. In addition, some
success was achieved in the war in the use of rockets for air attacks on tanks and
submarines, applications where the lack of recoil allowed the use of much larger
warheads than was possible with aircraft guns. In such combat, accuracy
comparable to that of guns was achieved. Sighting was accomplished by pointing
the aircraft; flight stability (and hence accuracy) was improved over ground
launching because the initial aircraft speed was sufficient for effective stabilizing
action by fins from the moment of air launch.
Early during World War II, efforts were also initiated to make a castable propellant.
In the United States, a propellant was made from asphalt and potassium
perchlorate that was melt-cast into motors for jet-assisted takeoff of aircraft. Such
charges were solid and burned on the end facing the nozzle. The motors were
suitably attached to aircraft, and their added thrust permitted takeoff from shorter
runways or takeoff with much heavier loads. The spent motors, being of relatively
low cost, were often dropped. This “composite” propellant technology evolved
progressively and eventually became the means to make very large propellant
charges needed for ballistic missile systems and launch boosters for space systems.
During the period from 1945 to 1960, developments in SRMs continued to be
motivated by military applications and to some extent by applications to multiple-
stage sounding rockets for upper-atmosphere research. Major advances in
propellant technology included the development of castable composite propellants
with polymeric binders and with high-energy binders (e.g., NC–NG), the
introduction of better oxidizers such as ammonium perchlorate and
cyclotetramethylenetetranitramine (HMX), and the introduction of powdered
metals (particularly aluminum) as fuels. Improved insulation and lighter case
materials contributed to greatly improved performance, and the growing demand
for guided flight led to controllable fins and various directable nozzle designs. A
solid-propellant rocket with a propellant charge weighing 4600 lb, called the RVA-
10, was successfully tested in 1953, indicating the potential for very large solid
rockets. However, most of the large-rocket applications of that era utilized liquid
propellant engines. Only with the emergence of military requirements for the
launch of ballistic missiles on short notice did the development of large solid-
propellant rockets receive intensive support. The success of that effort in the 1960s
is attested to by the gradual replacement of most liquid-propellant ICBMs by solid-
propellant systems such as Minuteman and the development of the submarine-
launched Polaris missile for the fleet ballistic missile (FBM).
Returning to the 1950s, SRMs were used in every conceivable application from air-
to-air, ground-to-air, ship-to-air, and air-to-ground weapons. The advent of
guidance and control added a whole new dimension to the application of tactical
rockets, providing the means to achieve a high hit probability for moving and
maneuvering targets and targets that were not visible to the naked eye (but located
and tracked by radar or infrared emission). Because of their rugged and ready-to-
fire characteristics, SRMs were almost universally chosen for these tactical
missions. Military strategies are still struggling to adapt military forces and tactics
to the changed potentialities and threats posed by guided tactical rockets, and
much of the progress in the 1950–1965 era in solid rocket propulsion is due to the
pressure to gain performance and to control the cost and hazard of SRMs in these
guided missile applications.
The movement to large SRMs started with the decision in the United States to
develop the Polaris (FBM) missile and the Minuteman (ICBM) missile in 1957.
These systems called for casting large propellant charges (tens of thousands of
pounds), making motors that could operate for 120-sec without any cooling, and
providing the capability for directional control of the exhaust jet. Fabrication of the
large motor cases was a challenge, as was the fabrication of very light motor cases
for upper stages. These developments set the stage for even larger booster motors
used in space launch vehicles such as the Titan IIIC and the U.S. Space
Transportation System (STS) for the Space Shuttle. Similar developments of solid
booster motors have been made in other countries. Likewise, the development of
high-energy propellants and lightweight motor construction for the upper stages
of large ballistic missiles provided the technology for high-performance space
motors used for orbital changes. In all of these applications, the ease of
maintaining the motor in a reliable ready-to-fire state is probably as important to
the choice of solid motors as all other factors combined. In the case of the STS
system, the booster SRMs are recovered, refurbished, and reused, thereby reducing
booster cost per mission.

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Microsatellites as Research Tools

Byung Kyo Kim, in COSPAR Colloquia Series, 1999

LAUNCH VEHICLE AND GROUND FACILITY

Taurus launch vehicle of Orbital Sciences Corporation in the U.S.A. has been
chosen for KOMPSAT launch. KOMPSAT will be launched at Vandenberg Air Force
Base, CAL, in August 1999. Taurus is a 4 stage solid propellant rocket, 27 m long
and capable of delivering 790 kg of payload to 685 km altitude KOMPSAT orbit.
KARI has constructed an assembly, integration and test facility as shown in Figure 8
for the FM AIT. It can handle 1000 kg, 2.5 m dia. satellites, has 1/360°, 1 μ
measurement accuracy and 10,000 class cleanliness. Environmental tests and
EMI/EMC tests can be performed in this facility. KARI is constructing KOMPSAT
ground station for mission control and data receiving and processing as shown in
Figure 9. It will be ready by January 1999. Mission control center will have a 6-m S-
band antenna and the mission control and operation subsystem. Data receiving
and processing center will have a 13 m X-band antenna, data acquisition and
processing subsystem.

Figure 8. ####Asking Query####.

Figure 9. KOMPSAT Ground Station.

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Combustion
F.A. Williams, in Encyclopedia of Physical Science and Technology (Third Edition),
2003

I.E Combustion in Rocket Engines

The applications discussed thus far have been concerned with air-breathing
engines, in which the oxidizer for the fuel is the O2 in the air. In rocket engines, the
oxidizer instead is carried within the vehicle; this is essential for propulsion in
space. The principle of the rocket is that the hot products of combustion from the
combustion chamber are expanded through a nozzle to a high velocity for
producing thrust. By employing oxidizers other than air, rocket engines can achieve
higher temperatures of combustion products and greater thrust per unit mass of
propellant consumed (called specific impulse) than if air were the oxidizer.
There are two main types of rockets—solid-propellant and liquid-propellant. In
solid-propellant rockets, a combustible solid material—the propellant “grain” (e.g.,
a mixture of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine, called a double-base propellant, or
crystals of an oxidizer such as ammonium perchlorate, NH4ClO4, dispersed in a
matrix of a hydrocarbon fuel polymer to form a composite material called a
composite propellant)—is contained in the combustion chamber. After ignition (e.g.,
by electrical heating or by initiation of a small explosive or pyrotechnic charge), the
grain burns at its surface, causing hot gas to issue into the portion of the chamber
not occupied by solid. The burning rate or regression velocity of the propellant,
that is, the velocity at which the grain surface recedes, is important in engine
design and is a property of the combustion process.
In liquid-propellant rockets, the combustibles are liquids, which are carried in
tanks and injected into the combustion chamber through intricate injectors that
atomize the fuel and promote mixing. Two types of liquid-propellant rockets are (a)
monopropellant rockets, which employ a single liquid fuel (e.g., hydrazine, N2H4)
that is capable by itself of combustion with heat release, and (b) the more common
bipropellant rockets, which employ two liquids, a fuel and an oxidizer (e.g.,
cryogenically cooled liquid hydrogen, H2, and fluorine, F2), that burn with heat
release when brought into contact with each other. The time required for
completion of combustion of the injected liquids is relevant to the design of liquid-
propellant rockets; this time often is related to droplet burning times.
The hybrid rocket engine employs a solid-fuel grain in the combustion chamber
and an injected liquid or gaseous oxidizer. The regression rate of the grain surface
in hybrid rockets depends on the rates of heat and mass transfer in the gas layer
adjacent to the surface where the fuel reacts with the oxidizer in the combustion
process.

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Extraterrestrial systems
S.K. Haldar, in Introduction to Mineralogy and Petrology (Second Edition), 2020

2.5.4 Indian Space Research Organisation, India

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is the space agency managed and
funded by the Department of Space (DOS), the Government of India (GOI). It is
established on August 15, 1969, with a vision to “harness space technology for
national development while pursuing space science research and planetary
exploration.” The organization is spread over the country with headquarter at
Bengaluru, Karnataka State, and + 25 subcenters, including three satellite
launching facilities at Bengaluru, Sriharikota Island, and Thiruvananthapuram.
The indigenous launching vehicle fleet includes Satellite Launching Vehicle (SLV),
Augmented Satellite Launching Vehicle (ASLV), Polar Satellite Launching Vehicle
(PSLV), Geosynchronous Satellite Launching Vehicle (GSLV), and Geosynchronous
Satellite Launching Vehicle Mark III (GSLV-Mk III) depending on stages of the
solid-propellant rocket, distance to cover, load to carry so that the satellite orbits
our Earth. It is equipped with Remote Sensing data capture instruments and
cameras. ISRO developed the Indian National Satellite System (INSAT), the Indian
Remote Sensing Satellite Series (IRS), Radar Imaging Satellite System (RIAT), and a
set of Geostationary Satellites (GSAT).
The collective applications and achievements of the ISRO are Telecommunication
Satellite Network (INSAT) for weather and natural disaster forecast, Resource
management satellite (IRS-P6/RESOURCESAT-1) covering land, water, business,
stock-market, Military, Academic, Telemedicine, Biodiversity Information System,
Cartography, and International Cooperation. India established a Centre for Space
Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific (CSSTE-AP) sponsored by
the United Nations (UN). India is one of the leading countries to participate in
space exploration mission in Moon.
Chandrayaan-1 was the first Indian lunar probe and launched successfully from the
Sriharikota launch pad by ISRO on October 22, 2008. The mission included a lunar
orbiter and an impactor. The spacecraft orbited around the Moon at a height of
100 km from the lunar surface for chemical, mineralogical, and photo-geologic
mapping. The mission was active until August 2009.
ISRO has pioneered launching multiple satellites in a single Satellite Launching
Vehicle. The organization scripted history by successfully launching a record 104
satellites, including 714 kg Indian Earth observation satellite Cartosat-2 on a single
rocket launching vehicle PS-C37 on February 15, 2017. Of 104 satellites, 3 belongs
to India, while 96 was that of the USA and one each from Israel, Kazakhstan,
Netherlands, Switzerland, and UAE. The launcher precisely placed the satellites into
polar Sun-synchronous orbits one after another, starting the first ejection of the
Cartosat-2D satellite. The mission lasted for 29 min, and ISRO credited a new
world record of launching the largest number of satellites in a single shot.
ISRO is the fourth space agency to successfully launched Chandrayaan-2 GSLV
Mark III space vehicle carrying 640 tons payload of an orbiter, Lander and Rover on
July 22, 2019, and successfully inserted into lunar orbit on August 20, 2019. While
orbiting the moon in a 100 km lunar polar orbit on September 02, 2019, Vikram
Lander was separated from the Orbiter in preparation for landing and unfortunate
to complete the safe and soft landing on Moon surface.
ISRO is the fourth space agency to reach Mars after Soviet Space Agency, NASA,
and ESA. The first interplanetary mission Mangalyaan was a spacecraft launched on
November 5, 2013, and orbiting Mars since September 24, 2014. The future
mission of ISRO for keeping three crew members in space for 7 days. The
Chandrayaan-3 will be organized in 2024 to set up a habitat on the lunar surface.
ISRO also in favor of developing low-cost military, commercial, and tourism
satellites.

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Rocket Motors, Hybrid

David Altman, in Encyclopedia of Physical Science and Technology (Third Edition),
2003

I.B History
Despite the fact that hybrid rockets have not enjoyed the same extensive
development background as solid and liquid motors, hybrid combustion involving
a solid and a fluid has been nature's way of burning fuels and oxidizers. Examples
are (1) a wax candle or oil lamp burning in the presence of atmospheric oxygen,
with the wick being the flame holding device, (2) a fireplace, where the bellows
serves as a means of increasing the “oxidizer mass flux” and therefore the burning
rate, and (3) on a grander scale, a forest fire involving the turbulent mixing of air
and the vaporized fuel exuding from the trees. Here again, the augmenting effect
of wind velocity is well known.
Because of its nonexplosive character, safety of operation, and low cost, the hybrid
rocket has been a favorite of amateur rocketeers. The earliest work on hybrid
rockets was conducted in the late 1930s in Germany at I. G. Farben and in the
United States at the California Rocket Society. Leonid Andrussow, in conjunction
with O. Lutz and W. Noeggerath, tested a 10-kN hybrid in 1937 using coal and
gaseous nitrous oxide (laughing gas). During the same period, Oberth, in
Germany, did some work on the more energetic LOX–graphite propellant
combination. Neither of these last two efforts was successful because the very high
heat of sublimation of carbon results in a negligible burning rate.
In the early 1940s, a more successful effort was conducted by the California Pacific
Rocket Society, employing LOX and several fuels such as wood and rubber. Of
these combinations, the LOX–rubber combination was the most successful and a
rocket using these propellants was flown in June 1951 to an altitude of about 9 km.
Although the Society did not report any ballistic analyses, they did have an accurate
concept of the fundamentals of hybrid burning as evidenced by the following
statement: “The chamber pressure of a solid–liquid rocket engine is proportional to
the oxidizer flow and not to the internal surface area exposed to the flame. Thus,
there is no danger of explosions due to cracks and fissures in the charge as with
solid propellant rockets.”
In the mid-1950s, two significant hybrid efforts occurred. One was by G. Moore
and K. Berman at General Electric, involving the use of 90% hydrogen peroxide
and polyethylene in a rod and tube grain design. The combustion was very smooth,
resulting in a high combustion efficiency. The authors drew several very significant
conclusions: (1) the longitudinal uniformity of burning was remarkable, (2) grain
cracks had no effect on combustion, (3) hard starts were never observed, (4)
combustion was stable since the fuel surface acted as its own flame holder, and (5)
throttling was easily accomplished by a single valve. The authors observed,
however, that the burning rate was low and could not be varied significantly. The
second significant effort was by William Avery at the Applied Physics Laboratory,
who investigated a “reverse hybrid” composed of a liquid fuel (JP) and a solid
oxidizer (ammonium nitrate). The primary motivation for this propellant selection
was low cost. Technically the program was not successful because of the rough
combustion and poor performance.
During the 1960s, two European countries engaged in hybrid studies leading to
flight tests of sounding rockets. These organizations were ONERA (in conjunction
with SNECMA and SEP) in France and Volvo-Flygmotor in Sweden. The ONERA
development used a hypergolic propellant based on nitric acid and an amine fuel.
The first flight of this vehicle occurred in April 1964, followed by three flights in
June 1965 and four flights in 1967. All eight flights were successful, reaching
altitudes of 100 km. The Volvo-Flygmotor rocket was based on a hypergolic
combination using nitric acid and Tagaform (polybutadiene plus an aromatic
amine). It was flown successfully in 1969 to an altitude of 80 km carrying a 20-kg
payload.
United Technologies Center (Chemical Systems Division [CSD] of United
Technologies Corp.) and Beech Aircraft developed a high-altitude supersonic target
drone in the late 1960s called the Sandpiper, using MON-25 (25% NO, 75% N2O4)
and polymethyl methacrylate (PMM)-Mg as the fuel. The first of six flights occurred
in January 1968 and these rockets flew for over 300 sec and with a range in excess
of 100 miles. The HAST, a second version, carried a heavier payload and was based
on an IRFNA-PB/PMM propellant combination. This 13-in.-diameter motor was
throttleable over a 10/1 range. A later version of this vehicle, the Firebolt, was
developed by Chemical Systems Division (CSD) and Teledyne Aircraft, using the
same propulsion configuration as the HAST. These three programs were
successfully conducted over a 15-year period until the mid-1980s. These target
drone rockets were the only hybrid propulsion systems built to military
specifications.
An investigation of the use of high-energy hybrid propellants based on a lithium-
containing fuel and FLOX (F2 + O2) as the oxidizer was conducted by CSD in the
mid-1960s. This led to a hypergolic propellant system that was throttleable and
demonstrated a vacuum Isp of 380 sec at 93% Isp efficiency. A firing of this 42-in.-
diameter motor in 1970 is shown in Fig. 2, which is taken from the cover of the
January 1970 issue of Aviation Week.

FIGURE 2. Hybrid motor firing with FLOX oxidizer (F2 + O2).

The largest hybrid rockets built to date had a thrust level of 250,000 lb and used
LOX/HTPB propellant. They were made by American Rocket Company (AMROC)
and were designed for use in a space vehicle and a high altitude rocket (HYTOP).
Another hybrid rocket at about the same thrust level built by a consortium of
Lockheed Martin, Thiokol, and CSD and sponsored by NASA was fired in the late
1990s. However, neither of these rockets was flight tested.
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Advances in science and technology of modern

energetic materials: An overview
D.M. Badgujar, ... P.P. Mahulikar, in Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2008

A solid rocket propellant is a heterogeneous mixture of metallic fuel, oxidizer,

binder cum fuel, ballistic modifier and other additives. Oxidizer and fuel
interaction produces the energy while ballistic modifiers alter the combustion
behavior to obtain desired burning rate characteristics. Generally, composite
propellants comprise of ammonium perchlorate (AP)—an oxidizer, aluminium (Al)
—a metal fuel and hydroxy terminated polybutadiene (HTPB)—binder cum fuel.
The burning rate of AP-composite propellants is routinely adjusted by the addition
of small amounts of combustion catalysts to the propellant formulation. Kishore
and Sunitha [140] carried out comprehensive literature survey on the combustion
catalysts spanning roughly two decades up to late 1970.

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Synthesis and characterization of a novel fluorine-

containing copolymer P(FPO/NIMMO) as a potential
energetic binder
Tao Zhang, ... Houbin Li, in Journal of Fluorine Chemistry, 2021

4 Conclusions
A novel fluorine-containing copolymer P(FPO/NIMMO) was successfully
synthesized as a potential energetic binder in solid rocket propellant. In
comparison with PNIMMO, the P(FPO/NIMMO) had a lower glass transition
temperature of −42.7 °C in the DSC. The TGA-DTG curves indicated that
P(FPO/NIMMO) had a good thermal stability and its sharp weight loss temperature
at 215.7 °C. All of these results indicated that synthesis of P(FPO/NIMMO) via
copolymerization of fluorinated monomer might be a promising method to
improve the energetic binder's application property in solid rocket propellant.

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Environmentally compatible next generation green

energetic materials (GEMs)
M.B. Talawar, ... A. Subhananda Rao, in Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2009

Ammonium perchlorate (AP) is the work-horse oxidizer used in modern rocket

propulsion systems. The most widely used solid rocket propellant for space
applications consists of ammonium perchlorate (70%), aluminium (16%) and
binder (14%). AP-based propellant system produces chlorine rich combustion
products, posing environmental hazards such as ozone depletion and acid rain.
Further, the main combustion products of aluminized AP based propellants are
hydrochloric acid (HCl), aluminum oxide (A12O3), carbon dioxide (CO2) and water.
Moreover, the compounds of aluminium are toxic and are harmful to human
beings, animals and plants. Research activities have been undertaken for the search
of superior and eco-friendly oxidizer for futuristic solid rocket propellants.
Ammonium dinitramide (ADN), hydrazinium nitroformate (HNF) and its
derivatives [50] are the recent entrants in this class.
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Studies on energetic compounds

Gurdip Singh, ... Sunil Kumar Tiwari, in Journal of Hazardous Materials, 1999

Metal salts of nitro compounds have long been of interest as energetic additives
and/or as burning rate modifiers in composite solid rocket propellants and in
explosive compositions. Recently, Rao et al. [139] have prepared Cu(II), Ag(I), Pb(II)
salts of 2,4,N-trinitroanilinoacetic acid (2,4,N-TNAAA) and 2,4,6-trinitroanilino
acetic acid (2,4,6-TNAAA). The order of thermal stability of salts of 2,4,N-TNAAA is
reported to be Ag>Pb>Cu, while for salts of 2,4,6-TNAAA, it is Cu>Ag>Pb.

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