Vacuum test of a micro-solid propellant rocket array thruster

Abstract

A φ 0.8 mm micro-solid propellant rocket array thruster for simple attitude control of a 10 kg class micro-spacecraft was tested in vacuum. The micro-thruster uses boron/potassium nitrate propellant (NAB), because NAB has ignition temperature as low as 500 • C, and easily start to burn in vacuum. For a half of the rockets, an ignition aid (RK) was also loaded. Ignition was succeeded in vacuum with NAB + RK and NAB. The maximum impulse thrust of 4.6 × 10 −4 Ns, which is approximately a half of our requirement, was obtained with NAB. Compared to NAB, NAB + RK generated lower impulse thrust. The success rate of ignition was as low as 30%, although RK was used. These results suggest that RK has no benefit for the ignition of NAB, and other kinds of ignition aid should be found. Keywords: micro-propulsion, micro-thruster, solid propellant, impulse thrust, ignition aid, MEMS. Classification: Micro-electromechanical systems

Contemporary Technology and Application of MEMS Rocket

“…So far, GAP (Glycidyl Azide Polymer), lead styphnate, NAB (Boron/Potassium Nitrate B/KNO3), RK (lead rhodanide-based explosive), nitrocellulose, HMX, RDX, HTPB/AP/AL, PETN (Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate), ZPP (Zirconium Perchlorate Potassium), gun powder (KNO3/C/S/NH4ClO4/Al), DDNP (diazodinitrophenol), etc. were used and tested for micro rocket [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. The data of these propellants are listed in Table.1.…”

Silicon‐on‐insulator‐based microsolid propellant thruster array

“…consisting of micronozzles and microigniters have great potential applications in the small space vehicles due to their advantages, such as having no movable components and no liquid leakage [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Especially, the MSPT array including multiple thruster units has become more favourable since it can satisfy the flexible thrust configuration requirements [7][8][9][10][11].…”

Improvement in energy release properties of boron-based propellant by oxidant coating

“…However, KClO 4 prevented the generation of BN. A separate study by Shuji et al [18,19] indicated that KNO 3 promoted the ignition of B-based propellants, both in air and vacuum. Zhang et al [20] reported that even though the ignition characteristics of LiClO 4 were worse than those of The addition of another additive increased the complexity and consistency of B-based propellants [11].…”