Water proofing material fo r inhibition of am monium n itrate hygroscopicity by micro encapsulation

Composite propellant based on ammonium p erchlorate (AP) as oxidizer is extensively used in rocket a nd satellites launch veh icles [۱]. H owever, glo bal environ ment impact restricts A P-based p ropellant be cause of their HCl exhaust. Th erefore, eff orts are on to find out propellan ts with cle an exhaust. In this view , ammoniu m nitrate (A N) can be considered as effective alternative for AP in the field of propellant and explosi ve with the advantageo us that it is cheap, ea sily available and forming no HCl on firing [ ۲]. It is mor e than half a century that AN is being used as a fertilizer and up to n ow no ecological problems has bee n reported [۳]. However, the main disadvantage for the a pplication o f AN as solid propellant oxidizer is its dimen sional instability due to occurrence of polym orphic transition near t he propellan t processin g and storage temperature and its high hygrosco pic [۱]. In this study, t he attempts are aimed a t overcomi ng the hygro scopicity p roblem of a mmonium nitrate throug h its microencapsulatio n with wate rproofing m aterial, nitr ocellulose ( NC).

Keywords:

Ammoniu m nitrate , Solvent/non-solvent , Mic roencapsula tion , Hygroscopicity