Mechanical characterization of composite solid rocket propellant based on hydroxy-terminated polybutadiene

Abstract

This paper presents the procedure of uniaxial mechanical characterization of composite solid rocket propellant based on hydroxy-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB), whose mechanical properties strongly depend on temperature, strain rate, natural aging and accumulated damage. A method of processing data is presented in order to determine time-temperature shift factor and master curves for tensile strength, ultimate strain and relaxation modulus, depending on reduced time. Functional dependences of these features represent an input for structural analysis of a rocket motor propellant grain. The effects of natural aging on the mechanical properties are also considered. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. TR 36050: Research and development of unmanned aircraft in support of traffic infrastructure monitoring]

Keywords

• composite propellant
• viscoelasticity
• mechanical characterization
• tensile strength
• ultimate strain
• time-temperature shift factor
• relaxation modulus
• safety factor
• reduced time