Combustion performance and electric property of the HTPB propellant containing cesium nitrate

To study the combustion performances and electrical properties of propellant used in magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) generator, the combustion heat, pressure exponent and electric density of combustion products for HTPB propellants with different formula were measured by calorimetry, target line method and microwave interferometry. The effect of cesium itrate, ammonium perchlorate(AP) and Al content on combustion heat, burning rate and electric density of combustion products was analyzed. Results show that the combustion heat of the propellant decreases gradually with increasing the cesium nitrate content. When the Al content is 18% (mass fraction) and cesium nitrate content is lower than 6%, the value of combustion heat of the propellant can reach to 6000kJ/kg. The AP content has great influnce on the pressure exponent. When the AP content increases from 61.10% to 63.15%, the pressure exponent increases by more than 13%. The addition of cesium nitrate can significantly improve the electric density of combustion products. The average electric density of combustion products of the propellant with cesium nitrate is 1.9×10¹²cm^-3, which is one thousand times larger than that of the propellant without cesium nitrate.