Resonant-Mixing of Gelled Propellants

"Gelled bipropellants provide advantages over liquid or solid gels. The conversion of advanced liquid oxidizers and fuels to gel greatly increases the safety of storage and use of bipropulsion materials in missile systems. Operational advantages of thegelled propellents over solid fuels include the ability to modulate fuel burn rate. The deliverable for this Phase II proposal is an advanced mixer/reactor system that is ideally suited for the manufacture of bipropellant. The technology, ResonantSonicVariable Volume Mixer-Reactor (RVVMR), uses high intensity, low frequency energy, coupled with a mixing technology developed by the Army Missile Command (AMCOM) into a system that has been demonstrated in Phase I as an effective gelled propellant mixingtechnology. The Phase II project presented below embodies the development, design, fabrication and delivery of a fully operational RVVMR system to AMCOM, as well as developing commercial applications with an industrial chemical company strategic partnerwho will contribute to the Phase II research. The RVVMR technology will be suitable for making production batches of conventional gelled propellents, and will have great utility for use in the development of advanced gels for bipropulsion systems. TheRVVMR technology also offers a unique solution to many contemporary mixing problems."