The hygrothermal aging effects of titanium hydride potassium perchlorate for pyrotechnic combustion

Titanium hydride potassium perchlorate (THPP) is a well-known pyrotechnic initiator commonly utilized in the field of aerospace propulsion. The current study experimentally elucidates the effects of hygrothermal aging on the pyrotechnic combustion of THPP and proposes two methodologies for analysis. The first technique implements a two-step isoconversional method to analyse the hygrothermally aged THPP with Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), and the second method offers a novel aging prediction methodology by comparing the experimental heat of reaction values against idealized equilibrium values. As the heat of reaction plays a major role on determining propellant's performance, NASA Chemical Equilibrium with Applications (CEA) was used to predict its value. The knowledge of the combined aging effects is directly connected to the performance, lifetime, and safety of a pyrotechnic initiator that utilizes the THPP. The values of heat of reactions for different samples with different aging duration were estimated based on their composition extracted from the X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) study.