Several aluminum nanopowders were examined and compared with the final goal to evaluate their application in solid rocket propulsion. A detailed investigation of pre-burning properties by the Brunauer-Emmet-Teller method, electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was carried out. Ballistic properties and the combustion mechanism of several aluminized propellant formulations were investigated. In particular, aggregation and agglomeration of metal particles at and near the burning surface were analyzed by high-speed high-resolution color digital video recordings. All tested nano-powders are of Russian production; their physical characterization was carried out at the Istituto Donegani (Novara, Italy); ballistic studies were performed at the Solid Propulsion Laboratory (Milano, Italy) using laboratory and, for comparison, industrial composite propellants based on ammonium perchlorate as an oxidizer. Results obtained under a fair variety of operating conditions typical of rocket propulsion indicate, for increasing nano-Al mass fraction or decreasing nano-Al size, larger steady burning rates with essentially the same pressure sensitivity. While aggregation and agglomeration phenomena still occur, their significance may be reduced by using nano-Al instead of micro-Al.

Three HTPB-based rocket propellant formulations containing ammonium perchlorate and aluminum particles, with different aluminum content and particle size, have been manufactured. The study has focused on the change of mechanical properties with aging time by using dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Therefore, propellant formulations underwent an accelerated aging program, in air (RH<10 %), between 60 °C and 90 °C with aging time adjusted to a thermal equivalent load of 15 to 20 years at 25 °C. DMA investigations revealed distinct changes in the shape of the loss factor curve. These curves were modeled with three exponentially modified Gaussian (EMG) functions in order to get the molecular interpretation of the involved aging phenomena by separating the binder fractions with different mobility. Aging of propellant formulations can be followed by considering only two parameters: the areas of the second and third loss factor transition peaks (A2, A3), and the corresponding maximum temperature values of the assigned Gauss peaks (Tc2, Tc3)

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The characterization of several differently sized aluminium powders, by BET (specific surface), EM (electron microscopy), XRD (x-ray diffraction), and XPS (x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy), was performed in order to evaluate their application in solid rocket propellant compositions. These aluminium powders were used in manufacturing several laboratory composite solid rocket propellants, based on ammonium perchlorate (AP) as oxidizer and hydroxilterminated polybutadiene (HTPB) as binder. The reference formulation was an AP/HTPB/Al composition with 68/17/15% mass fractions respectively.

Experiments concerning the ballistic characterization of several nanoaluminum (nAl) powders are reported. Most studies were performed with laboratory composite solid rocket propellants based on ammonium perchlorate as oxidizer and hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene as inert binder. The ultimate objective is to understand the flame structure of differently metallized formulations and improve their specific impulse efficiency by mitigating the twophase losses. Ballistic results confirm, for increasing nAl mass fraction or decreasing nAl size, higher steady burning rates with essentially the same pressure sensitivity and reduced average size of condensed combustion products. However, aggregation and agglomeration phenomena near the burning surface appear noticeably different for microaluminum ( Al) and nAl powders. By contrasting the associated flame structures, a particle-laden flame zone with a sensibly reduced particle size is disclosed in the case of nAl. Propellant microstructure is considered the main controlling factor. A way to predict the incipient agglomerate size for Al propellants is proposed and verified by testing several additional ammonium perchlorate/hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene/aluminum formulations of industrial manufacture

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Experimental studies on the burning of nanoaluminum-based solid rocket propellants are carried out. Data on the properties of condensed combustion products, mechanisms of their formation, and burning-rate law are obtained.\ud Based on these data, a physical picture is developed of the considered burning-propellant classes. Mathematical modeling of burning nanoaluminum in composite solid rocket propellants is carried out. The influence of nanoaluminum on ignition temperature of the metal fuel and burning-rate law is shown. The results of this study allow carrying out the analysis and selection of good-quality propellants using nanoaluminum