Hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) based polyurethanes (PUs) are low modulus materials and degrade easily at low temperature. Polycarbodiimide (PCDI) and polysiloxane (PSi) are reactive-type fillers when formed by carbodimidzation and sol-gel process, respectively. During the combustion, PCDI and PSi give off non-toxic, non-corrosive volatile gases, and finally form carbonaceous and siliceous chars. In this study, modified PUs were prepared by incorporating PCDI or PSi into PUs to give high carbon, nitrogen and silicon materials. These modified PUs are kinds of organic-inorganic hybrids with higher modulus and higher thermal stability than HTPB-based PUs. In addition, new silicone based insulation materials were prepared by mixing two silicone rubber materials LSR-2670 and RTV-627 from GE Silicones, in order to improve the heat insulation and to reduce the ablation rate. These inhibitors can keep the rocket motor from the high temperature ablation for a long time, especially castable silicone based heat insulations for the case of the ramjet engines.
The mechanical properties at room temperature and the thermal stability of these modified PUs and silicone rubbers were investigated using a tensile tester and a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). ATR/FTIR (Attenuated total reflectance / Fourier transform infrared) technique is applied to monitor the synthesis process of PCDI and to examine the change of surface chemistry of insulator before and after thermal degradation via TGA. TGA coupled with FTIR (TGA/FTIR) was used to analyze the kinetics and the mechanism of thermal degradation under nitrogen and/or air. The Friedman and Kissinger methods of analysis were used for calculating the activation energy of degradation from dynamic TGA. The modified PUs (HIPTD-40%Psi¤ÎHIPTD-30%PMPS-PSi) with average activation energy of 88 and 112 kcal/mole (0.5¡Õ£\¡Õ0.9, under N2) and the modified silicone rubber (LR-5%HTB) with activation energy of 46.2~67.0 kcal/mole (0.1¡Õ£\¡Õ0.9, under N2) and 34.0~59.1 kcal/mole (0.1¡Õ£\¡Õ0.9, under air).The maximum degradation temperature (Tmax) and char yield (CY) of thermal degradation were estimated from a series of experiments with heating rates of 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 ¢J/min, under nitrogen or air. It is apparent that the maximum degradation temperature is dependent on heating rate. By assuming the heating rate for the insulator used in a rocket operating environment is about 5000¢J/min, Tmax calculated for the modified PUs (HIPTD-40%PSi and HIPTD-30%PMPS-PSi under N2) are found as 538 and 562¢J and for the modified silicone rubber (LR-5%HTB under N2 and air) are found as 576 and 562¢J, respectively. CY calculated for the modified silicone rubber (LR-5%HTB under N2 and air) is found as 71.5% and 66.2%. The morphology of modified PUs and silicone rubbers before and after thermal degradation via TGA was observed by optical and scanning electron microscope (SEM).
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0817104-151504 |
| Date | 17 August 2004 |
| Creators | Yu, Feng-Er |
| Contributors | Yie-Shun Chiu, Ming Chen, S. J. Bai, J. T. Chen, An-Chung Su, Jin-Long Hong |
| Publisher | NSYSU |
| Source Sets | NSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Language | Cholon |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0817104-151504 |
| Rights | unrestricted, Copyright information available at source archive |
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