Mechanical Characterization of Solid Rocket Propellants
Mechanical Characterization of Solid Rocket Propellants
Himanshu Shekhar
Deputy Director
Pune-411021, India
ABSTRACT
Solid rocket propellants are used in propulsion systems
of rockets, missiles and launch vehicles because of
their simplicity, ease of operation and less deployment
time. Although propellants are supposed to burn and
provide propulsive force to make various payloads
airborne and propel them towards targets, they are also
supposed to possess sufficient mechanical strength to
counter a gamut of experienced loading conditions.
Right from manufacture to transportation to storage to
applications, they are continuously stressed by
environmental changes (temperature and relative
humidity), jolt, bump, self-weight, acceleration and
internal pressure loading conditions. In nutshell, solid
propellants, which are designed to give energy by
combustion are supposed to have high mechanical
strength to withstand various loads and retain their predefined
shape till successful operation.