Accession Number:

ADA193841

Title:

Application of Laser Diffraction Techniques to Particle Sizing in Solid Propellant Rocket Motors

Descriptive Note:

Master's thesis

Corporate Author:

NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY CA

Personal Author(s):

• Youngborg, E. D.

Report Date:

1987-12-01

Pagination or Media Count:

112.0

Abstract:

Measurements of forward scattered light were used to determine the particulate behavior in the combustor and across the exhaust nozzle of a small solid propellant rocket motor. A MALVERN 2600 was successful in measuring multimodal particle distributions, and a locally designed system was successfully applied to monomodal distributions. The propellant tested was a reduced smoke propellant containing one-percent zirconium carbide by weight. The results suggested that ZrC reacts to completion on or very near the propellant surface. Zirconium oxide ZrO2 agglomerates are believed to form on the surface. Surface agglomerate size decreased with increasing pressures to approximately 500 psig. Agglomerates broke up in the nozzle convergence to approximately 18 microns, independent of the pressure or nozzle entrance particle size. Particle breakup occurred in the exhaust plume. System limitations, sources of error and suggested improvements are discussed. Keywords Particle sizing Solid propellant rocket motors Theses.

Descriptors:

• *LASERS
• *PARTICLE SIZE
• *SOLID PROPELLANT ROCKET ENGINES
• *PARTICULATES
• DISTRIBUTION
• THESES
• REDUCTION
• SURFACES
• PROPELLANTS
• COMBUSTORS
• PARTICLES
• SMOKE
• DIFFRACTION
• LIMITATIONS
• ERRORS
• PRESSURE
• CONVERGENCE
• NOZZLES
• MULTIMODE
• BEHAVIOR
• EXHAUST PLUMES
• EXHAUST NOZZLES
• FORWARD SCATTERING
• SIZES(DIMENSIONS)
• MEASUREMENT
• AGGLOMERATES
• SOURCES
• LIGHT SCATTERING

Subject Categories:

• Lasers and Masers
• Solid Propellant Rocket Engines

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE