Matrix propellent formulations containing aluminum

Claim 1

IN A ROCKET PROPELLENT COMPOSITION WHICH BURNS TO PRODUCE PROPULSIVE GASES AND WHICH CONSISTS ESSENTIALLY OF A FINELY-DIVIDED, SOLID, INORGANIC OXIDIZER, CONTAINING COMBINED OXYGEN WHICH IT YIELDS READILY FOR COMUBSTION OF THE FUEL COMPONENTS OF SAID COMPOSITION, AND FINELYDIVIDED ALUMINUM FUEL DISPERSED IN AN ORGANIC FUEL MATRIX CONTAINING MOLECULARLLY COMBINED CARBON AND HYDROGEN, SAID ORGANIC FUEL MATRIX COMPRISING AT LEAST ABOUT 20 PERCENT BY VOLUME OF SAID COMPOSTION, THE IMPROVEMENT IN WHICH SAID OXIDIZER, SAID ALUMINUM, AND SAID ORGANIC FUEL MATRIX ARE PRESENT IN AMOUNTS SUCH THAT THE FOLLOWING EXPRESSION: O/(C + O + M(V/2)) EQUALS ABOUT 0.47 TO 0.60 WHEREIN O EQUALS THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF COMBINED OXYGEN IN THE COMPOSITION, C EQUALS THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF CARBON, M EQUALS THE AMOUNT OF ALUMINUM, SAID O, C, AND M BEING EXPRESED IN TERMS OF THE NUMBER OF ATOMIC EQUIVALENTS, AND V EQUALS THE VALENCE OF THE ALUMINUM.