Initial Temperature Effects on the Combustion Characteristics of Al

Abstract The combustion of aluminium in propellants plays an important role in the energy release of propellants, and investigations of the combustion mechanism of aluminium can help to further improve the energy release characteristics of propellants. The changes in reaction temperature and product content over time during the reaction of Al(l)/O 2 and Al(l)/AP systems at different initial temperatures were calculated using the Closed Homogeneous Batch Reactor in CHEMKIN‐PRO, and a sensitivity analysis was performed for the Al(l)/AP system. The results showed that with increases in the initial temperature, the heat storage time and combustion time of the Al(l)/O 2 system were shortened and the equilibrium temperature increased, which was also true for the Al(l)/AP system. Moreover, the increase of initial temperature was favourable to the decomposition of O 2 and the formation of AlO in Al(l)/O 2 system but had little effect on the Al/AP system. The main reaction path of the Al(l)/AP system changed with increases of initial temperature, although , , , and are common elementary reactions with high temperature sensitivity and thus play a decisive role in the change of H 2 , AlCl, AlO and O contents as well as the changes of the reaction temperature of the system. In this paper, the combustion characteristics of an Al/AP system were investigated in depth, and the results can provide a theoretical basis for revealing the combustion mechanism and improving the energy release characteristics of aluminium‐based AP‐containing solid propellants.