pps proceeding - Abstract Preview
pps proceeding
Symposium: S12 - (General Session 12) Rubber Processing and Technology
Poster Presentation
 
 

Characterization of Plasticized 1,2,3-Triazole Crosslinked Polymers Based on Azide Chain-ends Prepolymers and a Dipolarophile Curing Agent as Solid Propellant Binders

Lee Dong-Hoon (1), Kim Kihyun (1), Lee Noori (1), Lim Seok Hwan (1), Lee Sangdae (1), Kim Wonho (1)*

(1) Department of Chemical Engineering, Pusan National University - Busan - Korea

The use of energetic additives, mainly as binders and plasticizers, is considered to be one of the practical ways to improve the energy level and other technical performances of solid rocket propellants. In this case, the prepolymers and curing agents are frequently dissolved and cured in a plasticizer in order to impart flexibility, good processability, and low-temperature mechanical properties to the compounds. The 1,2,3-triazole crosslinked polymers with potential use as a binder system in solid rocket propellants were prepared by mixing of an azide chain-ends prepolymer, a dipolarophile curing agent, which acts as a crosslinker, and a plasticizer with C≡C/N₃ratio of 1.1. Nitrate ester (NE)-type plasticizer was used in our works. A wide range of the plasticizer ratios were investigated: 0-300 wt% for the polycaprolactone (PCP) and polycaprolactone ether (PCE) prepolymers based binders, and 0-500 wt% for the polyethylene glycol (PEG) prepolymer. Even at high amounts of plasticizer, sufficient initial reactivity and good conversion were obtained, however the increase of viscosity was considerably delayed. Crystalline domains of in the 1,2,3-triazole crosslinked polymers were effectively eliminated by the addition of plasticizer. The tensile strength and modulus (100 % and 300 %, respectively) decreased with increasing of the amount of plasticizer whereas the elongation at the break was only modestly affected. PCP showed excellent elongation at the break compared to PEG at the same levels of plasticizer as well as good tensile strength. In contrast, the binder network prepared from the PCE prepolymer collapsed due to its low degree of crosslinking.