Burning Rate of PVC—Plastisol Composite Propellants and Correlation Between Closed Vessel and Strand Burner Tests Data

The objective of this study is to assess two different methods used to determine the burning rates of solid rocket propellants and to find a convenient correlation of the measured data. The well-known strand burner test (Crawford test) and the closed vessel test were employed. In order to clarify the relation between the two techniques, a composite propellant containing polyvinyl chloride (PVC) as matrix and ammonium perchlorate (AP) as an oxidizer is used. It is prepared using normal AP (without heat treatment, nPoAP) or porous AP (after heat treatment, PoAP). Dioctyl phthalate (DOP) or dibutyl sebacate (DBS) was used as plasticizer. The PVC-Plastisol propellant burning rate behavior with respect to pressure, oxidizer nature, and propellant composition is analyzed. The obtained results show an acceptable correlation between the two techniques over the pressure range from 5 to 25 MPa.