Service life prediction of AP/Al/HTPB solid rocket propellant with consideration of softening aging behavior

The aging behavior of softening composite solid propellant was investigated by measuring its mechanical and ballistic prosperities during prolonged storage at elevated and room temperatures. Accelerated aging was conducted at 65 °C for 231 days while the normal aging was performed at 25 ± 3 °C and relative humidity less than 50% for 8 years. The mechanical properties were obtained from uniaxial tensile tests for the aged propellant specimens while the ballistic properties were determined from static firing tests of subscale motors aged for 112 days at 65 °C. The mechanical results show that the maximum tensile strength and Young's modulus initially increase and subsequently decrease with increasing aging time, while the maximum tensile strain generally increases with increasing aging time. The ballistic properties like burning rate show a small change which cannot affect the ballistic performance. The experimental results show that the changes in the mechanical properties are significant during the aging period, but the burning rate does not undergo significant changes. From this study, it is observed that the propellant ages through a combination of reactions like post-cure, oxidative cross-linking, chain scission, and hydrolysis. The chain scission and the hydrolysis effect are the most significant process, which makes the propellant soft and extendible. The observed aging mechanism has been modeled using an exponential function with two terms which can describe the complex behavior of the aging. By applying Arrhenius equation,the activation energy values were obtained based on the propellant mechanical properties. The shelf life of this propellant formulation at 25 °C is predicted to be 13 years using the modulus as failure criteria and control parameter.