Main Article Content
Abstract
Research on hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) for use in hybrid rocket propulsion has been sporadic for many years. The HTPB fuel grain suffers from low fuel regression rate. This low regression rate, results in low heat and mass transfer from the fuel surface which affects the thrust of the hybrid rocket. As a result, hybrid rocket has not yet found widespread use in commercial and military applications. The challenge is to improve the low regression rate without compromising the appealing features of the hybrid rocket which includes safety, low cost environmental cleanliness and simplicity. The present research discusses two methods to mitigate this low regression rate of the HTPB. One of the methods used was adding activated charcoal (AC) as an additive and the second method proposed was to blend the HTPB with paraffin. The purpose of this work was to carry out the thermal analysis of HTPB with various percentage of AC as additives and HTPB-paraffin blends.