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Abstract:
A diligent attempt has been made to scrutinize black powder and the charcoal it contains as fully as possible, utilizing modern testing techniques and various analytical chemical procedures. Although the tests performed are well established, their application to define a porous propellant represents a new point of view for investigating structure. From S.E.M. microphotographs and compaction studies, it is suggested that the pressing action used to make black powder results in plastic flow that produces a conglomerate and cohesive mass containing a matrix of inter-connecting passageways. The degree of openness of black powder grains and, in particular, internal surface area, pore volume, internal free volume, and density were all found to be related to burn rate. Thermodynamic calculations were cited that relate computed theoretical values to experimentally determined quantities. Closed bomb data embrace more than one combustion mode and as such do not directly relate to bulk values. From this interrogation, chemical and physical properties were related to combustion phenomena. As work progressed it became evident that material produced by the INdiana Army Ammunition Plant will be, or has become, the most successfully characterized black powder produced in the United States.
| Limitations: |
 APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE |
| Description: |
Final rept. |
| Pages: |
41 |
| Report Date: |
JAN 1985 |
| Report Number: |
A554051 |
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