Irradiated polymers and propulsion process

Claim 1

A SOLID PROPELLANT FUEL CONSISTING ESSENTIALLY OF AN IRRADIATED PARAFFIN MASS CONTAINING ABOUT 0.1-50 PERCENT BY WEIGHT OF A A POLYUNSATURATED CROSSLINKING MODIFIER, BASED UPON THE COMBINED WEIGHT OF SAID PARAFFIN AND SAID MODIFIER, AND HAVING A TUBULAR SHAPE WITH SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORM CROSS SECTION THROUGHOUT ITS LENGTH, SAID MASS HAVING BEEN EXPOSED TO AT LEAST TWO AND NO MORE THAN 100 MERGAREPS OF HIGH-ENERGY, IONIZING RADIATION DERIVED FROM AN ENERGY SOURCE EQUIVALENT TO AT LEAST 100,000 ELECTRON VOLTS, SAID POLYUNSATURATED CROSSLINKING MODIFIER BEING SELECTED FROM THE CLASS CONSISTING OF POLYUNSATURATED COMPOUNDS HAVING ONE OF THE FOLLOWING FORMULAS: (A) R2C=CR-Z-CR=CR2 (B) RC*C-Z-CR=CR2 (C) RC*C-Z-C*CR (D) R2C=CR-K-CO-X-Z-X-CO-K-CR=CR2 (E) R2C=CR-K-CO-X-Z-CO-X-K-CR=CR2 (F) R2C=CR-K-CO-X-Z-X-K-CR=CR2 (G) R2C=CR-K-X-CO-Z-CO-X-K-CR=CR2 (H) R2C=CR-K-X-CO-Z-X-K-CR=CR2 (I) R2C=CR-K-X-Z-X-K-CR=CR2 (J) R2C=CR-K''-CO-X-K''-CR=CR2 (K) R2C=CR-K"-X-K"-CR=CR2 (L) R2C=CR-K''-CR=CR2 (M) R2C=CR-K"-CO-X-K''-CR=CR2 (N) R2C-CR-K''-X-K''-CR=CR2 WHEREIN Z IS A DIVALENT GROUP HAVING AT LEAST TWO CARBON ATOMS BETWEEN SAID VALENCIES AND BEING SELECTED FROM THE CLASS CONSISTING OF DIVALENT HYDROCARBON, DIVALENT PYRIDINE, DIVALENT PIPERIDINE, DIVALENT MORPHOLINE, DIVALENT FURANE, DIVALENT PYRIMIDINE, AND DIVALENT PIPERAZINE GROUPS, AND THE HYDROCARBON, CHLORO, FLUORO, ALKOXY, CYCLOALKOXY, ALKARYLOXY, ARALOXY, ACYLOXY, CYANO, -COOR" AND -CH2COOR" DERIVATIVE THEREOF; K REPRESENTS A SYMBOL SELECTED FROM THE CLASS CONSISTING OF Z AND A SINGLE BOND CONNECTING THE TWO ATOMS OF THE FORMULA ADJACENT TO AND CONNECTED TO K; X IS SELECTED FROM THE CLASS CONSISTING OF OXYGEN AND NR2"; K'' AND K" ARE THE SAME AS DEFINED ABOVE FOR K, EXCEPT THAT IN FORMULA (G) THE SUM OF HTE CARBON ATOMS BETWEEN THE VALENCIES IN THE TWO K" IS AT LEAST TWO, IN TE FORMULA (K) THE SUM OF THE CARBON ATOMS BETWEEN THE VALENCIES IN THE TWO K"''S IS AT LEAST THREE, IN FORMULAS (L), (M) AND (N) WHEN K'' AND K" REPRESENT A DIVALENT RADICAL, THEN BOTH VALENCIES ARE ATTACHED TO THE SAME CARBON ATOM IN SAID RADICAL, AND IN FORMULA (M) ONLY ONE OF THE SYMBOLS SELECTED FROM THE CLASS CONSISTING OF K" AND K'' CAN REPRESENT A DIVALENT RADICAL; R" REPRESENTS A RADICAL SELECTED FROM THE CLASS CONSISTING OF HYDROGEN AND HYDROCARBON GROUPS; AND R REPRESENTS A RADICAL SELECTED FROM THE CLASS CONSISTING OF HYDROGEN, HYDROCARBON GROUPS AND THE CHLORO, FLUORO, ALOXY, ARYLOXY, CYCLOALKOXY, ALKARYLOXY, ARALKOXY, ACYLOXY, CYANO, -COOR" AND CH2COOR" DERIVATIVE OF HYDROCARBON GROUPS.