Ignition of solid propellants

Abstract

At present, the study of solid-propellant ignition is of particular interest owing to the adoption of hybrid motors [1–3]. The status of experimental and theoretical research in this field can be evaluated on the basis of the rather extensive survey of American papers in [2]. It is noteworthy that a common deficiency in available references is the absence of exact ignition criteria; in most cases the propellant is assumed to have ignited when its surface temperature reaches a prescribed level (gasification temperature), or when the rate at which the temperature increases with time at the propellant surface is sufficiently high. Exact criteria for this rate, however, are not given. In this article, we present ignition criteria for solid propellants and these are based on a diffusion-burning model. It is shown that for a diffusion flame to exist above the propellant surface, two conditions must be satisfied simultaneously: 1) the propellant surface temperature must equal the gasification temperature for that propellant and 2) the temperature gradient at the surface must be smaller than some value which depends on the kinetics of the chemical reaction in the diffusion flame and on the rate of oxidizer input to the propellant surface during burning.

Two ignition techniques are examined as examples: ignition by hot gases or radiant heat flow and ignition by means of an active film which reacts with a cold oxidizer; the film is applied to the propellant surface prior to ignition.