Combustion of Gas-Permeable Gun Propellants

Abstract

Foamed propellants prepared by supercritical fluid foaming show considerably high burning rates due to their porous structures. To further investigate combustion of foamed propellants, quenched combustion experiments and closed-vessel experiments were carried out, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was also used to observe their porous morphology. The SEM images show that foamed propellant grains exhibit a porous core and compact skin. The research results show that the porous core is first burned out and the compact skin is burned out at the later burning stage. The results also demonstrate that pore size exerts an important effect on the burning behaviors of foamed propellants.

Keywords:

• foamed propellant
• gas penetration
• porous structure
• quenched combustion
• skin–core structure