A New Insight of Carbon Blacks and Burning Catalysts in Composite Modified Double Base Propellant

The synergistic effect between carbon blacks and burning catalysts (CuO and PbO) in composite modified double base (CMDB) propellant is detailed studied in this work. It was found that CuO is much easier to adsorb on carbon blacks compared with PbO. On the contrary, PbO is prone to adsorb on nitrocellulose. The addition of carbon blacks makes CuO and PbO lie in the “right place” where they have a higher catalytic capability, leading to better combustion properties. Besides, four kinds of carbon blacks were detailed characterized from their aggregation states to chemical structures and combustion properties of CMDB propellants with these carbon blakcs were systematically studied. It was found that carbon blacks with smaller aggregations and lower disorder degrees lead to a stronger synergistic effect between carbon blacks and burning catalysts. At last, CMDB propellants with controlled combustion properties were obtained by adjusting the kinds and contents of carbon blacks used in them.