Synthesis of metallized kerosene gel and its characterization for propulsion applications

Abstract The potential advantage of metallized gel is very attractive for the sake of increasing density specific impulse. For propulsion application, stable suspension and high concentration of metal particles are requisite characteristics. Motived by this, the synthesis of metallized kerosene gel is experimentally investigated first. Polyamide Resin is used as gellant to solidify kerosene and stabilized micron-sized boron and aluminum particles. The metal particles concentration can be up to 45 wt% with a gellant concentration of 3 wt% and remain stable for at least half year, which is attractive behavior for propulsion application. The density of the kerosene gel containing 45 wt% boron particles is 1.44 times that of pure kerosene, which is very attractive to meet the requirement for increasing the density specific impulse. Subsequently, the physical properties of the metallized gel are studied, such as rheological properties and surface tension. Results show that the addition of gellant increases the viscosity of kerosene, but decrease the surface tension of which. Besides, the addition of metal particles will both increase the viscosity and surface tension of kerosene gel. Lastly, the spray combustion characteristics of metallized gel are investigated. First experimental results indicate that metal particles, such as boron (5 μm) and aluminum (25 μm), can be successfully ignited in kerosene gel spray flame. Thus, it can be concluded that the metallized kerosene gel we prepared are stable and suitable for propulsion application.