Microcellular Oblate Propellant with Skin-core Structure Deterred by Poly(neopentanediol adipate)

In order to solve the issues of high muzzle flash, smoke, residue, migration rate and carcinogenicity of double-base oblate propellants deterred by dibutyl phthalate (DBP), skin-core structure microporous oblate propellants to replace DBP deterring technology were fabricated in the present work by supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) foaming technology. Poly(neopentanediol adipate) (NA) was employed as the deterrent to modify the combustion properties because of ist lower migration rate in storage. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to observe the morphology of the microporous oblate propellants generated by different processing conditions, and the combustion properties were investigated by closed bomb tests. The SEM images indicated that the skin region displayed smaller cell diameters and lower cell density compared with cells in the core region. The closed bomb tests demonstrated that it was feasible to adjust the progressive combustion performance by controlling the skin-core structure and the NA deterred layer. The burning time values of the original, the microcellular, and the NA deterred samples were 3.45, 2.14, Central European Journal of Energetic Materials ISSN 1733-7178; e-ISSN 2353-1843 Copyright © 2020 Łukasiewicz Research Network – Institute of Industrial Organic Chemistry, Poland 50 Y. Ding, S. Ying, Z. Xiao, W. Wu, C. Li, Y. He Copyright © 2020 Łukasiewicz Research Network – Institute of Industrial Organic Chemistry, Poland and 4.20 ms, respectively. Microcellular oblate propellants, with a skin-core structure foamed by SC-CO2 and deterred by NA, provides a novel and promising method to realize progressive combustion performance.