THERMAL-DECOMPOSITION OF CURED GAP-AP PROPELLANTS CONTAINING CATOCENE

Differential thermal analysis (DTA), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and a modified manometric vacuum stability test (MVST) were employed to investigate the thermal characteristics of cured glycidyl azide polymer (GAP)-ammonium perchlorate (AP) propellants in the presence of catocene. Various particle sizes of AP in propellants were examined. The results revealed that catocene plays an important role in catalyzing the decomposition of both AP and GAP. The DTA curves of propellants with larger particles of AP showed two exothermic reactions. However, only one exothermic reaction was found for propellants containing smaller particles of AP. The peak temperature (T(m)) of the DTA curves and the onset temperature of the TGA patterns obviously shifted to a lower temperature as the catocene content increased in the propellants. Similar thermal behavior was also observed in the MVST measurements. The activiation energy of decomposition of the propellants was determined, based on the MVST results.