Publication: Design, fabricate and test a solid propellant rocket motor
Date
2009-03-01
Authors
Teh, Lloyd Tzer Tong
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Abstract
The study of a small solid propellant rocket motor is presented in this report. A rocket motor is designed, fabricated and tested in static test rig to obtain experimental results. The solid fuel consists of a composite propellant that utilizes Potassium Nitrate, Epoxy and Ferric Oxide. The addition of Ferric Oxide serves as a burn rate modifier to increase the propellant burning rate. The use of composite propellant allows the propellant to be cold casted which makes it safer to fabricate. The cartridge loaded propellant grain configuration makes it possible for several firing tests using the same motor to obtain a good result.
Burn-rate tests show that propellant burn-rate depends on the voids present in the propellant and the mixing ratio of epoxy resin and hardener. By minimizing the voids present in the propellant grain and increasing the resin to hardener ratio, faster burn-rate is possible which in turn increases the average thrust of the motor. Experimental result shows that the motor has a lower total impulse. Investigation suggested that the lower density of the propellant grain prepared is the cause of it. As for the specific impulse, experimental result lies near the expected value.