Combustion performance of composite propellants containing core-shell Al@M(IO3)x metastable composites

Aluminum (Al) has been widely used in solid composite propellants (SCPs) to increase the specific impulse. However, Al always subjects to coalescence , sintering to large agglomerations during combustion of SCPs resulting in larger two-phase flow losses. Herein, core-shell μ-Al@M(IO 3 ) x composites have designed and synthesized as a replacement for micron-sized Al (μ-Al) in the Al/AP/RDX/HTPB propellant with tunable combustion behavior. The results show the thermal reactivity and heat releases of SCP are largely enhanced by using these novel metal-based composites. With the inclusion of μ-Al@EGCG@Fe(IO 3 ) 3 (EGCG: Epigallocatechin gallate), the major exothermic peak is reduced by 29.1 °C compared to the reference propellant with a heat release increase up to 5475 J g −1 , exceeding that of the reference sample (86 J g −1 higher). The burn rates are increased with the inclusion of μ-Al@(MIO 3 ) x , while the pressure exponent is higher. The SCP-1 (0.3), SCP-2 (0.18) and SCP-4 (0.25) that have relatively low pressure exponent and high burn rates are good candidates for future applications. The major condensed combustion products (CCPs) of these SCPs are Al 2 O 3 , Al 2.81 O 3.56 N 0.44 , Al 4 C 3 , Al 2 OC, AlN and C 7 H 18 ClN. The agglomeration can be reduced with a minor inclusion of μ-Al@M(IO 3 ) x due to the enhanced interfacial reactions, and the average CCP sizes (0.5 μm for SCP-1 and SCP-4) are even smaller than that of initial μ-Al (1.2 μm).