Propellants

TSOC 40

Evolution of Rocketry
Origin of weapon development-FIRE
360 Century B.C. Archytas discovered the
reaction principle.
He filled water in a hollow clay pigeon and
strategically placed holes resulted in the
movement of pigeon under its own power.

200 B.C. Chinese invented firearms. They

discovered black powder

 1379 Italian inventor Muratori coined

the term Rochetta.
By 13th Century armies of India, Japan
and Korea acquired knowledge about
gun powder propelled fire arrows.
1817 1st spin stabilized rockets were
utilized.

Gun Powder
It was discovered by Chinese at 220 BC.
It consist of finely divided charcoal, sulphur
and saltpetre (KNO3)

Nitroglycerine
In 1846, Italian Professor Sobrero discovered
liquid nitroglycerine.
Few years later, Alfred Nobel developed a
process for manufacturing of NG.
The problem with NG was the shock
sensitiveness
that made it difficult to
transport.

Dynamite
To address the safety problems of transporting
NG, Nobel mixed NG with Keiselgurh. This
gurh dynamite was patented in 1867.

Nitration of cellulose was also being carried

out by several scientist at that time.
Schonben in 1846 discovered the preparation
of NC. Safety was again very important issue in
its preparation.

Nitrocellulose

1846 Christian Friedrich Schnbein, a German-Swiss chemist,

discovered Nitrocellulose.

Nitrocellulose
Abel in 1865 showed that through the process
of pulping, boiling and washing the stability of
NC could be greatly improved.
1875 Alfred Nobel discovered that on mixing
NC and NG, a gel was formed. The gel was
used to produce blasting gelatine.

 In 1888 Ballistite, the first smokeless powder

consisting of NC, NG, benzene and camphor
was discovered.
Britishers called it as Cordite. They
established a factory close to Ooty to
manufacture various kinds of cordite.

 Before World War II, propellants were used

mainly for small arms in cannons and for
sporting ammunitions for civilian use.
But in World War II, rockets were used
extensively used and double base propellants
was their main ingredient.

Further improvement in Propellants

Problems encountered
1. Bright muzzle flash
2. Large quantity of smoke
3. Hygroscopicity
4. The solid residue was corrosive and has to
be removed after every firing

 After Alfred Nobel introduced NC-NG based

double base propellant, there emerged a
group of solid propellants called composite
propellants.
The first solid propellant appeared in 1945,
since then composite propellants have
emerged as a major role in propellant field.

Spacecrafts and Propellant

development
Space Transportation System
Titan Rocket (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile)
Sputnik, and Explorer
Spacecrafts/rockets use solid, liquid and
hybrid propellants (Liquid oxidizer, solid fuel)

Introduction to propellants
A propellant is an explosive material which
undergoes rapid and predictable combustion
(without detonation) resulting in a large
volume of hot gas. This gas can be used to
propel a projectile i.e. a bullet or a missile.
These are explosives designed to burn
smoothly without detonation

Rocket Propellants
Rocket engines work on the Third Law of
Newton.
Action-Reaction Engine
Thrust produced is due to expansion of hot
gases produced by combustion of propellants
Jet and rocket engines operates on the
principle of jet propulsion, using hot gases as a
working fluid

Propellants
In order to produce gas quickly, propellant
should carry its oxidizer and fuel together.
A homogenous propellant is where a fuel and
oxidizer are in same molecule i.e.
nitrocellulose
A heterogeneous propellant has fuel and
oxidizer in separate compounds

Single base propellants

These propellants are used for guns.
Composed of 90% or more nitrocellulose
which has 12-13.2% nitrogen content. It is an
ether-alcohol colloid of nitrocellulose
The energy content of single based gun
propellant is between 740 and 880 Cal/g.

NH Propellant
86% of NC (13.1%)
10% Dinitrotoluene
3% Dibutylphthalate
1% Diphenylamine

Double Base Propellants

In order to raise the energy content Q value,
nitrocellulose is mixed with nitroglycerine to
form double base propellants.
Double base propellants have Q value 785 and
1240 Cal/g (3300-5200 J/g) depending upon
the proportion of NG present.