Experimental Determination of Ignition and Combustion Characteristics of Two Insensitive Propellants
Résumé
Safety improvements in the field of energetic materials led to the development of insensitive propellants. This article deals with ignition and combustion parameters of two commercial insensitive propellants, respectively based on RDX and nitrocellulose. Ignition is obtained thanks to a laser diode and ignition probabilities are given, along with ignition delays, overpressures and propagation rates. Experiments are performed under nitrogen and argon atmospheres, with initial pressures between 10 and 70 bars and laser powers between 0.66 and 9.95 W. It is found that argon enhances combustion, especially on overpressures but not on ignition delays that are more sensitive to laser power. Nitrocellulose-based propellants are found to be more reactive than RDX-based ones.