Innovative boron nitride-doped propellants
| Autor: | Thelma Manning, Richard Field, Paul H. Matter, Christopher T. Holt, Robin Crownover, Henry Grau, Eugene Rozumov, John Bolognini, Viral Panchal, Kenneth Klingaman, Samuel Sopok, Carlton P. Adam, Michael Fair, Michael G. Beachy |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
Wear and erosion
animal structures Materials science Lubricant Composite number Computational Mechanics chemistry.chemical_element macromolecular substances 02 engineering and technology 01 natural sciences Carbide chemistry.chemical_compound Nano-boron nitride 0103 physical sciences Gun propellant Additive Composite material Boron Gun barrel Propellant 010304 chemical physics musculoskeletal neural and ocular physiology Mechanical Engineering Metallurgy technology industry and agriculture Metals and Alloys 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology body regions Military Science chemistry Boron nitride Ceramics and Composites 0210 nano-technology Dispersion (chemistry) |
| Zdroj: | Defence Technology, Vol 12, Iss 2, Pp 69-80 (2016) |
| ISSN: | 2214-9147 |
| Popis: | The U.S. military has a need for more powerful propellants with balanced/stoichiometric amounts of fuel and oxidants. However, balanced and more powerful propellants lead to accelerated gun barrel erosion and markedly shortened useful barrel life. Boron nitride (BN) is an interesting potential additive for propellants that could reduce gun wear effects in advanced propellants (US patent pending 2015-026P). Hexagonal boron nitride is a good lubricant that can provide wear resistance and lower flame temperatures for gun barrels. Further, boron can dope steel, which drastically improves its strength and wear resistance, and can block the formation of softer carbides. A scalable synthesis method for producing boron nitride nano-particles that can be readily dispersed into propellants has been developed. Even dispersion of the nano-particles in a double-base propellant has been demonstrated using a solvent-based processing approach. Stability of a composite propellant with the BN additive was verified. In this paper, results from propellant testing of boron nitride nano-composite propellants are presented, including closed bomb and wear and erosion testing. Detailed characterization of the erosion tester substrates before and after firing was obtained by electron microscopy, inductively coupled plasma and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. This promising boron nitride additive shows the ability to improve gun wear and erosion resistance without any destabilizing effects to the propellant. Potential applications could include less erosive propellants in propellant ammunition for large, medium and small diameter fire arms. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|