Development of Composite Solid Propellant Based on Nitro Functionalized Hydroxyl-Terminated Polybutadiene

This paper presents an overview of a modified composite propellant formulation to meet future requirements. The composite propellant mixtures were prepared using nitro functionalized Hydroxyl-Terminated Polybutadiene (Nitro-HTPB) as a novel energetic binder and addition of energetic plasticizer. The new propellant formulation was characterized and tested. It was found that the Nitro-HTPB propellant with and without energetic plasticizer exhibited high solid loading, high density, and reasonable mechanical properties over a wide range of temperatures. It was shown that the burning rate of Nitro-HTPB propellant is up to 40% faster than that of the HTPB propellant. These results are encouraging and suggest that it should be possible to improve the ballistic performance of popular HTPB propellants through use of the studied Nitro-HTPB binder.