Simulation of Heat Flow Curves of NC-Based Propellants - Part 2: Application to DPA Stabilized Propellants

Measuring of heat flow curves at temperatures near the in-service range have become a standard for stability and compatibility assessments of nitrocellulose (NC)-based energetic materials. The typical technique to realise this demand is heat flow microcalorimetry. The heat flow curves are the summarized effect of the rates of all the reaction heats in the mixture. The propellant composition has a significant influence on the shapes of the heat flow curves. To assess the stability on a firmer base, it is of interest to know what contributions to the total heat flow the individual reactions have from the NC decomposition and from the stabilizer reactions. This needs the simulation of the heat flow curves based on the individual reactions with their thermochemical data and their reaction rates. For this, the reaction enthalpies of all relevant reactions must be known. On these prerequisites was reported in part 1. With the data from there, the simulation of the heat flow curve of the ball powder propellant type K6210 was undertaken, using a reaction scheme for the nitrate ester decomposition and the DPA reactions. In principle, the here developed and applied procedure is usable for all types of NC-based propellants and heat flow curves.