Parametric studies of electrolytic decomposition of hydroxylammonium nitrate (HAN) energetic ionic liquid in microreactor using image processing technique

This paper presents the study of electrolytic decomposition of hydroxylammonium nitrate (HAN) ionic liquid in a transparent microreactor. The decomposition phenomena was captured using a high speed camera system. The captured images were post processed to study the effect of number of electrodes, HAN ionic liquid flowrate and applied voltage toward the overall reaction rate. Using of 3 pairs of copper electrodes, the ignition delay and the time taken to achieve steady state reaction were shortened to 8 ms and 120 ms, respectively. The associated overall reaction rate is 225% higher than that of using 1 pair of copper electrodes. Comparing to applied voltage, the flowrate of HAN ionic liquid is a more dominant factor as sufficient residence time is required for complete decomposition of HAN ionic liquid. The findings from the parametric study can be used to control the overall reaction rate for various microscale energetic applications.