Study of thermal decomposition and mechanical sensitivity of ETPE propellants

In this paper, the thermal decomposition characteristics and mechanical sensitivity of ETPE propellant were characterized by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), vacuum stability tester (VST), impact sensitivity tester and friction sensitivity tester, and the main factors affecting the safety performance of ETPE propellant were studied. The results show that ETPE propellant has good thermal stability under 185℃. The combustion activation energy of ETPE propellant is slightly lower than that of HTPB propellant. By using 100℃ heating method, the net added gas of ETPE propellant is 0.81ml/g, which meets the evaluation standard of stability qualification, and the propellant did not spontaneously combust under various high temperature test conditions. By reducing the amount of fine AP and controlling the amount of RDX, it is conducive to reducing the probability of the "hot spot" generated by the propellant under the external excitation energy, reducing the mechanical sensitivity of propellant and improving the safety performance of propellant.