Fluid Dynamic Aspects and Experimental Investigations for Enhancing Crystal Characteristics of Ammonium Perchlorate (AP)
摘要
The performance of solid propellants is greatly influenced by the size and shape of the Ammonium Perchlorate (AP) particles, which are precisely regulated during the crystallization of AP. Crucial factors that control crystal characteristics are turbulence and mixing kinetics, which in turn control nucleation, growth and size. As of now, no research has looked at how turbulence and fluid dynamic aspects affect the crystal characteristics of AP. Understanding the impact of fluid dynamic aspects and mixing on the particle properties and morphology of AP was achieved through the utilization of both CFD simulations and experimental investigations. Using various agitator configurations, rotational multiphase simulations were run to predict the spatial distribution of velocity, turbulence, shear force, etc. Experiments were conducted to measure the size and shape of AP particles, and validate simulations. The results show that hydrofoil agitator gives better size and shape properties compared to other agitator configurations. SEM analysis of single particle imaging unravels that the particle smoothening is mainly due to high fluid shear imparted by the agitator.