Nano oxalates of Fe, Co, Ni: Burning rate modifiers for composite solid propellants

We highlight here current research focused on the catalytic activity of nano oxalates of Fe, Co and Ni synthesized by colloidal precipitation method. The catalytic activity of these nano oxalates was examined for the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP) and composite solid propellants (CSPs) using thermogravimetry (TG), TG coupled with differential scanning calorimetry (TG–DSC) and ignition delay measurements. All the nano oxalates showed very high activity as burning rate catalysts for composite solid propellants (CSPs) containing hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) as binder and AP as oxidizer. CoC2O4·2H2O was found to be the best catalyst in terms of lowering decomposition temperature of both AP and CSPs.