Ionic Liquid Propellants

Future BMDS interceptor systems require innovative propellants that provide significantly increased performance and, simultaneously, improved safety, insensitivity, and economy. ORBITEC and partner University of Wisconsin-Madison propose to develop a family of ionic liquid propellants to meet these needs. Ionic liquids are inherently non-volatile, stable, and dense, and have a large liquidus range; thus they are well-suited to be rocket propellants. A non-volatile yet highly energetic rocket propellant would not only improve insensitive munitions compliance but could also potentially enable shipboard use. The proposed Phase I program will include the design of the propellants, synthesis of small quantities, materials testing, and energy and performance calculations. The end result of the initial phase will be a set of the most promising samples for in-depth analysis in future work. Phase II work will synthesize larger quantities of the top formulations, conduct more extensive materials testing, and progress to combustion tests. This research program will produce a set of new liquid ionic rocket propellants for mono- and bi-propellant systems that will exceed the state of the art propellants in density specific impulse, insensitivity, and safety and will allow engineering of novel electrical ignition systems.