A STUDY OF THE REUSE/REFORMULATION OF NAVY GUN PROPELLANTS

THE NAVY HAS A GROWING SURPLUS INVENTORY INVOLVING PROPELLANTS, EXPLOSIVES AND PYROTECHNICS (PEP). INCREASING PROHIBITIONS ON DISPOSAL METHODS REQUIRES INCREASED ATTENTION BE GIVEN TO REUSE APPLICATIONS.ONLY LIMITED WORK HAS PREVIOUSLY ADDRESSED ENERGY RECOVERY, COMMODITY RECOVERY AND REUSE APPLICATIONS OF NITROCELLOSIC PROPELLANTS. TPL IS CURRENTLY ADDRESSING REUSE APPLICATIONS OF PLASTICALLY-BONDED EXPLOSIVES. WITH ITS PARTNER, THE CENTER FOR EXPLOSIVES TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH (CETR), THE RESOURCES ARE AVAILABLE TO ADDRESS AGING AND STABILITYPROBLEMS, AND CONDUCT FEASIBILITY EXPERIMENTS TO DEMONSTRATE REUSE POTENTIAL. PAST COMMERCIAL SALES OF DOD SURPLUS PEP MATERIALS WILL BEINVESTIGATED FOR REUSE APPLICATIONS. SPONSORED REUSE/REFORMULATION TECHNOLOGIES WILL BE STUDIED TO IDENTIFY HIGH POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS. AGING AND STABILITY ISSUES WILL BE ASSESSED IN LIGHT OF POTENTIAL PROPELLANT/APPLICATION ISSUES. CRITICAL EXPERIMENTS WILL BE CONDUCTED IN AGING/STABILITY AND REUSE/REFORMULATION AREAS. TPL, ACTIVE IN APPLICATIONS OF ENERGETIC MATERIALS, AND CETR, WITH EXTENSIVE EXPERIMENTAL FACILITIES, PRESENT THE CAPABILITIES TO DEVELOP A SOLUTION TO THE PROPOSED PROBLEM.