Experimental study on soft PSD material of dual pulse solid rocket motor

Abstract

In order to study the failure reason of the soft PSD in the dual pulse solid rocket motor (SRM), the deformation process of the intermediate section of the second pulse combustion chamber was simplified to the two-dimensional plane strain state, and the calculation method of the circumferential strain of the soft PSD was obtained. The influencing factors of the circumferential strain of the soft PSD were studied. The main factors affecting the circumferential strain of the soft PSD are the gap between the soft PSD and the propellant grain, and the circumferential strain on the inner surface of the propellant grain. The calculation method could be used to initially estimate the circumferential strain of the soft PSD, and then predict the rationality and feasibility of the design scheme. The apparent morphology and area change rate of EPDM materials of PSD under different strains were studied by DIC tensile test. The variation of the porosity of the EPDM material with the increase of strain was obtained by micro-CT. By comparing the SEM results of the fracture and the slit of the tensile test piece, the failure mode of the EPDM material of PSDs was determined, and the failure mechanism of the PSD structure was obtained. The conclusions obtained in this paper can provide a useful reference for the design of the PSD in dual pulse SRM.