Study on Properties of Energetic Plasticizer Modified Double-Base Propellant

To improve the low-temperature mechanical properties of double-base propellants, the effects of three energetic plasticizers (geminal dinitro aldehyde acetal plasticizer, azido-terminated glycidyl azide polymer, and ester-terminated glycidyl azide polymer) on the low-temperature mechanical properties of nitrocellulose (NC)/nitroglycerin (NG) propellant were studied firstly in this article. It was found that azido-terminated glycidyl azide polymer (GAPA) was the most effective plasticizer to improve the low-temperature mechanical properties of NC/NG propellant. Then the effects of GAPA on the low-temperature static tensile mechanical properties, thermal stability, dynamic thermomechanical properties, density, and heat of detonation of fully-formulated double-base propellant with ETPE were studied. It was found that the double-base propellant with 1 % GAPA had the best comprehensive performance, and its maximum tensile strength and elongation at break at low temperature (−40 °C) were 56.16 MPa and 10.63 %, respectively. The elongation at break was increased by 10.2 % compared to the double-base propellant without an energetic plasticizer. Meanwhile, the correlation between dynamic and static mechanical properties of the double-base propellant with 1 % GAPA was also studied, and the relationship between the dynamic storage modulus and the static tensile strength was obtained.