摘要

This paper examines the effects of nickel coating of aluminum particles on the combustion of aluminized solid propellants. High-speed photography is used in order to capture propellant combustion in various operating pressures. Data analysis reveals a dramatic reduction in the median diameter of ejected particles when nickel-coated aluminum is employed in the propellant. A theoretical model is introduced based on previous works, predicting a decrease in ignition time for aluminum particles coated with nickel. The model indicates that shorter ignition time should lead to the reduction of the agglomeration phenomena, and to a decrease of ejected aluminum agglomerates, in agreement with the experimental findings.