From heart drug to propellant fuels: Designing nitroglycerin-ionic liquid composite as green high-energy hypergolic fluids

Zhi Wang, Binshen Wang, Yang Guo, Yunhe Jin, Lihan Fei, Shi Huang, Wenquan Zhang, Chenglong Tang, Qinghua Zhang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

New-generation green bipropellants based on ionic liquids for aircraft have attracted the attention of researchers. However, the major defects of ionic liquid propellants are their low specific impulse and incomplete combustion, which limits their practical application. In this work, a series of novel hypergolic fluids were prepared by mixing oxygen-rich nitroglycerin (NG) with fuel-rich dicyanamide-based ionic liquids. The complete dissolution of NG in ionic liquids makes these hypergolic fluids became self-supplying oxygen composite fuels, which generate much less solid residual products than pure hypergolic ionic liquids (HILs). Moreover, the addition of NG inhibited the micro-explosion between fuel and white fuming nitric acid (WFNA), extended the contact time between fuel and oxidizer. And a proper amount of NG in the fuel could suppress the secondary combustion. These composite fuels have high density (>1 g cm−3), low viscosity (as low as 13.49 cP), wide liquid operating ranges and acceptable ignition delay time. Additionally, the specific impulses of the composite fuels were higher than pure HILs. For the first time, this work provides a simple and reliable method to control the ignition properties of HIL by adding oxygen-enriched additives.

Original languageEnglish
Article number111597
JournalCombustion and Flame
Volume233
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2021
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Drop Test
  • Hypergolic ignition
  • Ionic liquids
  • Nitroglycerin

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