Experimental Investigation on Combustion Characteristics and Agglomeration of Al/NEPE Propellants

In order to understand the ignition and combustion characteristics of NEPE propellants under different pressure conditions and the agglomeration behavior of aluminum particles on the burning surface, the Al/NEPE propellant was tested on a sealed high-pressure laser ignition platform. Laser ignition experiments show that both ignition delay time and combustion time are inversely proportional to ambient pressure. With the increase of pressure, the reduction of ignition delay time and self-sustaining combustion time is reduced. The impact of pressure on ignition and combustion is very complex. We then analyze the effect of pressure on ignition delay time using a theoretical mechanism. High-speed microscopic images display the agglomeration of aluminum particles in propellants mainly through the following three processes: accumulation, aggregation, and agglomeration. It is also found that many aluminum particles are agglomerated on the surface, the aluminum droplet agglomerates formed on the combustion surface are separated from the combustion surface, and the agglomerates rupture and flow out of the liquid alumina during the combustion process. The phenomenon of secondary agglomeration is also observed. The microstructure and elemental composition of combustion products of aluminum particles in NEPE propellant were obtained by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). The detection results confirmed some agglomeration phenomena. At 3.0 MPa, the combustion of the propellant sample is sufficient, and the aluminum particles are smooth spherical alumina particles. At 1.0 MPa, the combustion of the propellant sample is insufficient, and the aluminum particles are rough. The particle size under different pressure was analyzed by a laser particle size analyzer. The results show that increasing the pressure can reduce the average agglomeration size of aluminum particles and improve combustion efficiency. The number of large particle aggregates is more at 3 MPa. From the perspective of overall particle size results, within the same diameter interval, the percentage of particle number does not increase or decrease significantly with the increase of pressure.