Burning Rate Modifiers to Tailor Combustion of ADN/AN-Based Solid Propellants

This paper presents a study, carried out in the framework of the H2020 european project GRAIL, on thermal and catalytic decomposition of a solid ADN/AN mixture. Decomposition pathways of the mixture are proposed thanks to thermal analyses coupled with mass spectrometry. Thirty-four burning rate modifiers have been investigated using thermal analyses. This led to the selection of five candidates considered as promising additives: nano-CuO, CuO, Cr2Cu2O5, ZnO and ferrocene. Finally, a bicatalytic system with nano-CuO and ferrocene was considered for possible improvement of the decomposition. It prove to display a much attractive behavior towards the decomposition of this oxidizer mixture.