IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v15y2022i20p7578-d942083.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Beeswax–EVA/Activated-Charcoal-Based Fuels for Hybrid Rockets: Thermal and Ballistic Evaluation

Author

Listed:
  • Sri Nithya Mahottamananda

    (Department of Aerospace Engineering, B S Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science & Technology, Chennai 600048, India)

  • Yash Pal

    (School of Aeronautical Science, Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science, Chennai 603103, India)

  • Mengu Dinesh

    (Department of Aerospace Engineering, Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Coimbatore 641114, India)

  • Antonella Ingenito

    (School of Aerospace Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, 00138 Rome, Italy)

Abstract

Beeswax (C 46 H 92 O) is a naturally derived substance that has the potential to be used as a solid fuel for hybrid rocket applications and as a substitute for paraffin wax fuel in hybrid rockets. BW burns more efficiently than paraffin wax because of the oxygen molecule it contains. The low thermal stability and poor mechanical properties of BW limit its practical use for upper-stage propulsion applications, and these issues are rarely addressed in the literature on hybrid rockets. This study investigates the thermal stability and ballistic properties of BW using ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) and activated charcoal (AC) as an additive. The thermal stability of BW–EVA/AC fuel compositions was analyzed using a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). The thermal stability of the blended BW compositions improved significantly. A laboratory-scale hybrid rocket motor was used to evaluate such aspects of ballistic performance as regression rate, characteristic velocity, and combustion efficiency. The results revealed that the pure BW exhibited a higher regression rate of 26.5% at an oxidizer mass flux of 96.4 kg/m 2 -s compared to BW–EVA/AC blends. The addition of EVA and AC to BW was found to increase the experimental characteristic velocity and combustion efficiency. The combustion efficiency of BW-based fuel was improved from 62% to 94% when 20 wt.% EVA and 2 wt.% AC were added into the fuel matrix.

Suggested Citation

  • Sri Nithya Mahottamananda & Yash Pal & Mengu Dinesh & Antonella Ingenito, 2022. "Beeswax–EVA/Activated-Charcoal-Based Fuels for Hybrid Rockets: Thermal and Ballistic Evaluation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-16, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:20:p:7578-:d:942083
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/20/7578/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/20/7578/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:20:p:7578-:d:942083. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.