Preparation and combustion behavior of stabilized Al-Li compound fuel via mixing with ammonium perchlorate and metal oxides

The new composite fuel (Al-Li@TH@AP@Oxide) is a better strategy to improve the combustion effect of propellant through the structural design. This study focuses on the micro-explosion effect of Al-based alloy fuel, the improvement of surface oxygen concentration and the reduction of the distance between metal oxide and reducing agent. The stabilized Al-Li had good compatibility of 1 level with HTPB and curing property through the passivation of tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane hydrochloride (TH). Besides, the ammonium perchlorate (AP) and oxide could be attached to Al-Li@TH surface through evaporation induced self-assembly (EISA) method. The Al-Li@ [email protected] had the AP coating layer of 53.26 nm and good flammability with the reaction of oxidant and reducing agent. Moreover, the samples of Al-Li@ [email protected] @Oxide had better flammability with shorter ignition delay time, greater burning intensity and obvious micro-explosion phenomenon. The high temperature decomposition exothermic peak of AP could also be reduced to 344.8℃ of Al-Li@ [email protected] @CuO from 413℃ of Al-Li@ [email protected] . The doping of CuO presented the minimum ignition delay time of 0.6594 s, the highest burning temperature of 1343.28℃ and the fastest burning rate of 1.5297 mm s −1 through the comparison of Mn 2 O 3 , NiO and CuO propellants. In addition, the better combustion effect and structural advantage could also be proved through the size and composition of residue for the propellants of Al-Li@ [email protected] @CuO than Al-Li@TH/AP/CuO. The appearance of Al 2 O 3 and metal proved the occurrence of thermite reaction during propellant combustion. The feasible fabrication method would provide an innovative idea for further development of solid propellants with high combustion performance.