Thermal Decomposition of Ammonium Perchlorate in the Presence of Copper Tungsten Oxide (CuWO4)

The catalytic effect of copper tungsten oxide (CuWO4) was investigated on the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP) using differential scanning calorimetry. A lowering of the high-temperature decomposition peak temperature of AP was observed due to catalytic effect of copper tungsten oxide particles, now referred to as CTO in this paper henceforth. The kinetic parameters were evaluated using the Kissinger method. The decrease in the activation energy confirmed the catalytic activity of CTO. Further, CTO was evaluated in a standard composite propellant formulation having 86 % solid loading. Propellant performance and processing parameters such as the end of mix (EOM) viscosity, density, burning rate, pressure exponent (n-value), etc. were measured for standard as well as a composition containing 1 % CTO. The results revealed that at 1 % level CTO causes more than 36 % increase in propellant burning rate compared to the standard propellant composition at 6.86 MPa pressure. The pressure exponent also increased to 0.48, whereas the standard composition was having its value of 0.41.

Automated summary

The catalytic effect of copper tungsten oxide on the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate was studied, showing an increase in propellant burning rate and improvement in performance parameters.