Recycling of a TPE based gun propellant (Poster presentation)
conference paper
At TNO- PML we started to work with thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) because of an international trend towards the development and application of propellants using TPEs as a binder matrix. The most important reasons for this trend are: less or no solvent needed in the production process, recycling of waste into the process and filler recovery at the end of service life.
The reported investigation is to show the possibility of recycling, to know the recycling yield and major difficulties to be overcome.
The waste recycling followed two routes: the first one is reprocessing the extruded propellant grains to a paste and reshape the paste into 7 holes grains. The other one is to reclaim the high explosive (HE) material from the off-spec grains.
Following the first route an extruded 25 kg batch of 7 holes grains consisting of a TPE based gun propellant has been reprocessed using a planetary mixer. A small percentage of solvent was added to improve the flow properties. The paste was ram extruded to 7 holes grains with the same properties as the original grains.
The second route aimed at the recovery of the HE material consists in dissolving the TPE and the subsequent application of different separation techniques. The HE recovery gave various yields: the recovered material may be used as moulding powder.
In this paper the two recycling routes are described and the recycled grain characterisation results are presented.
The reported investigation is to show the possibility of recycling, to know the recycling yield and major difficulties to be overcome.
The waste recycling followed two routes: the first one is reprocessing the extruded propellant grains to a paste and reshape the paste into 7 holes grains. The other one is to reclaim the high explosive (HE) material from the off-spec grains.
Following the first route an extruded 25 kg batch of 7 holes grains consisting of a TPE based gun propellant has been reprocessed using a planetary mixer. A small percentage of solvent was added to improve the flow properties. The paste was ram extruded to 7 holes grains with the same properties as the original grains.
The second route aimed at the recovery of the HE material consists in dissolving the TPE and the subsequent application of different separation techniques. The HE recovery gave various yields: the recovered material may be used as moulding powder.
In this paper the two recycling routes are described and the recycled grain characterisation results are presented.
TNO Identifier
183216
Source title
Proceedings of the 34th International Annual Conference of ICT on Energetic Materials: Reactions of Propellants, Explosives and Pyrotechnics, Karlsruhe, Germany, 24-27 June 2003
Pages
Poster P113 - 9 p.
Files
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