Radiation Heating Effects on Oxidizer-to-Fuel Ratio of Additively Manufactured Hybrid Rocket Fuels

What is it about?

Utah State University has developed a hybrid rocket system that uses a common industrial plastic ABS as the fuel material. The rocket fuel grains are fabricated using a type of 3-D printing known as Fused Deposition Modeling. Although ABS has been demonstrated as an effective rocket fuel, the material possesses unique burn characteristics that have not been previously observed with most hybrid fuels including HTPB, the most commonly used hybrid fuel. This paper investigates this observed anomalous burn behavior, and present data to support the hypothesis that radiant heating plays a significant role in explaining the observed anomalous behavior. The effects of radiant heating will be shown to be especially important for very small hybrid motors of sized that are compatible with small spacecraft propulsion applications.

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