SEPARATION AND PURIFICATION OF PROPELLANT POLYMERS

THE USE OF SUPERCRITICAL FLUID SOLVENTS IS DESCRIBED AS A MEANS OF IMPROVING THE PERFORMANCE OF PROPELLANT BINDER POLYMERS BY EXTRACTING LOW MOLECULAR WEIGHT INTERFERING SPECIES. PREVIOUS BACKGROUND IN A WIDE RANGE OF POLYMER EXTRACTION/FRACTIONATION AREAS IS PRESENTED TO POINT OUT THE BREADTH OF POLYMERS THAT CAN BE SEPARATED/PURIFIED AND SIMULTANEOUSLY TO SHOW THAT THE STRUCTURES THAT HAVE BEEN STUDIED ARE SIMILAR TO THE STRUCTURES OF SOME PROPELLANT POLYMER BINDERS THAT ARE CURRENTLY USED IN ROCKET MOTOR APPLICATIONS. THE PROGRAM PLAN THAT IS DESCRIBED NOT ONLY ADDRESSES THE FEASIBILITY OF DISSOLVING THESE INTERFERING SPECIES FROM BINDER POLYMERS BUT PROPOSES THE EXTENSION OF FEASIBILITY TESTS TO THE EXTRACTION OF LARGE SAMPLES IN ORDER TO PROVIDE AFAL WITH MATERIAL SUFFICIENT TO EVALUATE THE IMPROVED PERFORMANCE THAT CAN DERIVE FROM SUPERCRITICAL FLUID EXTRACTION. AS A MEANS OF ASSESSING THE VALUE OF PHASE II EFFORT AN ECONOMIC VIABILITY EVALUATION OF THE PROCESS FOR PRODUCING IMPROVED POLYMER WILL BE MADE ON THE PHASE I PROGRAM.