The effect of polytetrahydrofuran as a reactive plasticizer on the properties of HTPB-based propellants

When producing a solid propellant, the viscosity of thepropellant slurry should be such that it can beprocessed easily. Conventional plasticizers such asdioctyl adipate (DOA) and dioctyl sebacate (DOS),due to migration cause loss of mechanical properties,and combustion instability, which affects the reliabilityand safety properties of propellants duringexploitation. One of the ways to reduce or prevent themigration of plasticizers is to use reactive plasticizersas a substitute. Considering that the chemical structureof polytetrahydrofuran (PTHF) is similar to hydroxylterminatedpolybutadiene (HTPB), PTHF is easily anduniformly mixed with HTPB. So PTHF is expected tobe useful not only as a binder but also as a plasticizer.To evaluate PTHF as a reactive plasticizer, the effectof this plasticizer on various propellant properties hasbeen briefly investigated. The results have shown thatthe processing, mechanical properties and thermaldecomposition behavior of HTPB binder are improvedby adding small amounts of PTHF to HTPB.

کلیدواژه ها:

HTPB” ، “PTHF” ، “Reactive plasticizer” ، “Migration” ، “Propellant”.