The processing, properties and use of the pyrotechnic mixture-titanium subhydride/potassium perchlorate

Abstract

The processing, properties and use of the static insensitive pyrotechnic, titanium subhydride/potassium perchlorate are discussed. Development of this pyrotechnic occurred because of the need for a static insensitive material to meet personnel safety requirements and related system safety issues in nuclear weapon energetic material component designs. Titanium subhydride materials are made by the thermal dehydriding of commercial titanium hydride powder to the desired equivalent hydrogen composition in the titanium lattice. These titanium subhydrides, when blended with potassium perchlorate, meet the static insensitivity requirement of not being initiated from an equivalent human body discharge. Individual material and blend qualification requirements provide a reproducible material from lot to lot. These pyrotechnic formulations meet the high reliability requirements (0.9995) for initiation and performance parameters and have the necessary stability and compatibility to meet long lived requirements of more than 25 years. Various esperiences and problems will also be discussed that have led to a mature technology for titanium subhydride/ potassium perchlorate during its use in energetic material component designs..

Laser Ignition of Various Pyrotechnic Mixtures – an Experimental Study

“…Keywords: Laser ignition · Pyrotechnics · Thermal ignition theory · Emission spectroscopy bustion. This delay mixture is knowna sagas-less composition [5,7].…”

“…Av ariety of pyrotechnic materials have beenu sed as ignition compositions in the past [2].O ft heseo nly as pecific mixture of boron and potassium nitrate( B/KNO 3 )c an be used without interruption of the pyrotechnic chain, according to MilStd1901. This is mainly due to the inherenti nsensitivity of the powder [3].H owever,n ew compositions are continually being investigated.S ome offer higher performance, and may in the future be foundt ob ea ss afe as, or even safer than B/KNO 3 .O ne example is am ixture of titanium sub hydride and potassium perchlorate with af lame temperature of about 3500 K [ 4] comparedt o 2800 Kp roducedb yB /KNO 3 .T he electro-static sensitivity of titanium sub-hydride composition has also been studied [5] and found to be less sensitivet han the NSI (NASA Standard Initiator)w hich employs ac omposition of zirconium and potassium perchlorate.…”

“…This enables av iable solution to designing moderns afe-and-arm systems, which can meet higher safety standardsf or solid rocket igniters [1].Av ariety of pyrotechnic materials have beenu sed as ignition compositions in the past [2].O ft heseo nly as pecific mixture of boron and potassium nitrate( B/KNO 3 )c an be used without interruption of the pyrotechnic chain, according to MilStd1901. This is mainly due to the inherenti nsensitivity of the powder [3].H owever,n ew compositions are continually being investigated.S ome offer higher performance, and may in the future be foundt ob ea ss afe as, or even safer than B/KNO 3 .O ne example is am ixture of titanium sub hydride and potassium perchlorate with af lame temperature of about 3500 K[ 4] comparedt o 2800 Kp roducedb yB /KNO 3 .T he electro-static sensitivity of titanium sub-hydride composition has also been studied [5] and found to be less sensitivet han the NSI (NASA Standard Initiator)w hich employs ac omposition of zirconium and potassium perchlorate.Apart from ignition purposes pyrotechnic mixtures are used for several other applications, delay fuses for instance. Am ixture of borona nd barium chromate is often used for this purpose [4].I ns uch application ignitionb yl asera lso offers advantages, sucha shigher safety and reliability.In ap reviousw ork [6] an ovel experimentals etup used to characterizei gnition of ap yrotechnic pellet by laser was described.…”

Titanium subhydride potassium perchlorate (TiH1.65/KClO4) burn rates from hybrid closed bomb-strand burner experiments.

“…Historically, titanium potassium perchlorate (Ti/KClO 4 ) (Massis, 1996) and titanium hydride potassium perchlorate (TiH 2 /KClO 4 ) (Sorensen et al, 2006;Massis et al, 1975) have been extensively studied. More recently, titanium subhydrides (TiH x ) with equivalent hydrogen concentrations of 0.45 < x <1.9 have been used in more applications (Massis, 1996;Collins et al, 1980).…”

“…Historically, titanium potassium perchlorate (Ti/KClO 4 ) (Massis, 1996) and titanium hydride potassium perchlorate (TiH 2 /KClO 4 ) (Sorensen et al, 2006;Massis et al, 1975) have been extensively studied. More recently, titanium subhydrides (TiH x ) with equivalent hydrogen concentrations of 0.45 < x <1.9 have been used in more applications (Massis, 1996;Collins et al, 1980). During the late 1980's and coinciding with the powder characterization activities on these subhydrides (Erickson et al, 1986(Erickson et al, , 1989Erickson, 1984;Rogers, Jr. et al, 8 89;Begeal and Stanton, 1982;Baer and Shepherd, 1983), the majority of the burn rate studies on TiH x /KClO 4 were carried out by two sets of researchers.…”