Experimental Investigation of Solid Fuels for Hybrid Rocket Propulsion

Wax-based fuels, recently proposed for hybrid rocket propulsion applications and nowadays largely investigated, show regression rates higher than those of traditional fuels (e.g. HTPB) but are aected by poor mechanical properties. Several eorts are under investigation in this field, aimed to optimize the balance between high enough regression rate and suitable mechanical properties. This work, developed in the framework of Master theses, is devoted to the mechanical characterization of a wax-based fuels family and to their ballistic characterization. Properties such as surface tension, viscosity of the melted fuel layer, stress-strain behavior, elastic modulus, are correlated with the steady regression rate.