Thermogravimetric analysis of the decomposition of a paraffin particle/HTPB fuel grain for hybrid rocket motors

Resumo

© 2015 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.Paraffin has been identified as a promising alternative for use in propellant grains for hybrid rocket motors. Studies have been conducted using grain as fuel paraffin or liquid hidroxylated polybutadiene polymer (HTPB) due to the high thrust generated during firing. However, in consequences the low mechanical properties of pure paraffin, this study aims to evaluate the kinetics of degradation of a mixture composed of paraffin particles (PP) and HTPB compared with grain fuel pure paraffin and pure HTPB. For this we used a thermal analysis technique thermogravimetric in conjunction with the application of kinetic methods based on ASTM E1641 and Vyazovkin theory. Based on these results we can say the activation energy results are in agreement with the literature and the mixture PP / HTPB presents intermediate activation energy values as expected.