Study on the Rheological Properties of BGAP Adhesive and Its Propellant

Abstract

In order to study the curing process of branched polyazide glycidyl ether (BGAP) binder and its propellant slurry at 50 to 70 °C, the rheological properties of BGAP binder and its propellant slurry were studied by chemical rheology. The results show that the viscosity coefficient of the uncured BGAP decreases gradually when the temperature increases, and when the plasticization ratio is 1.1, the viscosity coefficient of BGAP decreases first and then remains unchanged. After adding the curing agent, the chemical rheology method can be used to calculate whether the BGAP curing system still conforms to the power-law equation in a short time. The kinetic equation of the curing reaction, expressed by apparent viscosity, is deduced from the double Arrhenius equation, which can be expressed by η(T,t) = 10.16 exp (−1.72/T) exp [17.27 t exp (−5.21/T)]. After using BGAP as the adhesive to make a propellant slurry with a liquid material component of 25%, the effect of the particle size of Al powder in the solid filler component on the curing process of the slurry was studied, and the 200 nm Al powder could not be made into a slurry under this formulation. The curing kinetics equations of the slurry with Al powder particle sizes of 5 μm, 15 μm, and 29 μm under this formula were obtained by measuring the viscosity of the slurry over time at 50–70 °C. The results showed that the smaller the Al powder particle size, the lower the viscous flow activation energy of the slurry and the higher the curing reaction activation energy.

Keywords

• branched polyazide glycidyl ether (BGAP)
• chemical rheology method
• apparent viscosity
• curing
• Al powder