Aluminum particle agglomeration characteristics and suppression method during the combustion of aluminum‐based solid propellants: A review

Abstract

AbstractAluminum is widely used in solid rocket propellants to improve the energy performance of the propellant. However, during propellant combustion, aluminum particles may agglomerate, resulting in slag deposition, incomplete combustion of metal particles, increased two‐phase flow losses, and reduced motor specific impulse. Therefore, it is of great scientific significance and engineering value to understand the agglomeration mechanism of aluminum particles and to explore the method of agglomeration suppression. Based on this, this paper firstly briefly introduced the agglomeration process of aluminum particles during propellant combustion. Subsequently, factors influencing the agglomeration of aluminium particles were analysed. The influencing factors can be roughly divided into two aspects: propellant‘s own formulation and external environment. Immediately afterwards, the existing agglomeration suppression methods were emphasized and summarized and analyzed. Presently, agglomeration suppression methods can be broadly classified into four categories, namely, conventional formulation optimization, use of aluminum nanoparticles, and modification of aluminum particles using fluorine‐containing compounds or alloy particles. Finally, several directions that need to be focused on in the future are proposed to address the problems in the study of aluminum particle agglomeration suppression methods.