Successful plant scale production of solid propellant recycling from obsolete ammunition

ORIGINAL ARTICLE
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Abstract

Solid propellant for rocket motor consists of a mixture of oxidizer with aluminum powder cured in poly-butadiene (PB) binder. Ammonium perchlorate (NH4ClO4, AP) is commonly used oxidizer in many propulsion systems as solid propellant. An aged propulsion engine of the rocket motor is discarded through the waste processing procedure by open burning or open detonation. Meanwhile, recycling AP is economically interesting issue as it is filled more than 70 % in one unit of rocket motor. Although industries and military institutes have invested in R&D to remove PB binder or recycle AP oxidizer, developed process were rarely industrialized due to economic problem. Here we report an automated, self-contained and environmentally responsible AP recovery technology which process has recently been developed and proven to be a cost-effective recycling program of obsolete ammunition.

Keywords

Obsolete ammunition Solid propellant Ammonium perchlorate Oxidizer Recycling inorganic salt 
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Copyright information

© Springer Japan 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.JJPROTECH, R&D CenterBeopsumyeon, Ham-AnRepublic of Korea

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