Thermoplastic composite rocket propellant

Claim 1

A process for utilizing a thermoplastic elastomer as a binder for a composite propellant composition and for forming a solid propellant grain of same, said process comprising: (i) providing a thermoplastic elastomer which consists of hard segments having substantially crystalline properties and soft segments having substantially amorphous properties, said hard segments imparting rigid properties to a solid propellant composition with which it is combined, and said soft segments imparting rubbery properties to a solid propellant composition with which it is combined; (ii) dissolving said thermoplastic elastomer in an excess amount of a volatile organic solvent; (iii) adding and mixing an aziridine compound as a bonding agent in said dissolved thermoplastic elastomer to enhance the adhesive bond between the binder material and propellant composition solids; (iv) continue adding and mixing into said dissolved thermoplastic elastomer, propellant solids including aluminum powder as a fuel element and two different nominal particle sizes of ammonium perchlorate as oxidizer to increase particle packing efficiency; (v) continue mixing said solids in said thermoplastic elastomer solution to achieve a uniform mixture of said composite propellant composition; (vi) evaporating said organic solvent from said composite propellant composition to yield a dry solid composite propellant composition free from said volatile organic solvent; (vii) chopping said dried solid composite propellant composition into pellets; (viii) placing a predetermined amount of said pellets in a mold and heating to 150° C. to yield a viscous fluid of said solid composite propellant composition; (ix) pressing said viscous fluid in said mold; and, (x) cooling said mold and releasing from said mold a formed solid composite propellant grain.