Modeling the Hypergolic Ignition of Hydrogen Peroxide with Polyethylene

What is it about?

Hybrid rockets are advantageous because of their safety, their operational capabilities such as throttling and shutdown, as well as their potential to high performance. In general, one of the significant qualities of hybrid motors is the re-ignition after shutdown. However, this requires an ignition system, which in most cases adds weight and complexity to the system. In the experimental work of Castaneda and Natan, the ignition of a polyethylene-based solid fuel using hydrogen peroxide as an oxidizer and sodium borohydride as a promoter of the hypergolic ignition, was investigated. The aim of this work is to suggest a modified model for the hypergolic ignition of a solid hydrocarbon that contains reactive particles with hydrogen peroxide. The model does give fair agreement with existing experimental data.

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