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UAIPD #: 13-0017Decaboronate Salts To Induce
HypergolicityDr. Robin Rogers
Dr. Parker McCrary
Current Technology• Industry currently uses hypergolic
solutions for propellant or fuel in rocket propulsion systems.
• Hypergolic solutions do not need an ignition source– Hydrazine, MMH, UDMH, RP-1
• Hydrazine and other hypergolic solutions are extremely toxic and/or difficult to store in liquid form.
• RP-1 uses liquid oxygen which is inefficient to pressurize and store.
• Growing demand for greener, safer and more cost effective propulsion systems.
• Hypergolic propellants components spontaneously ignite when they come into contact with each other.
• Hypergolic propellants eliminate the need for an ignition source and rely only on a fuel/oxidizer mix to combust.
Hypergolicity Ionic Liquid
Oxidizer
Only the fuel and the oxidizer are needed to
create combustion.
• Decaboronate salt has a hypergolic relationship with nitric acid.
• Salts can be dissolved into other ionic fuel solutions and cause them to become hypergolic.
• Any solution that can dissolve the salts can become hypergolic and thus used as a fuel source.
• Less toxic than hydrazine and more efficient than liquid oxygen methods.
Decaboronate Salt Technology
Ionic liquid containing dissolved decaboronate salts interacting with nitric acid
• Salts can be used as primary, solid bipropellants• Can be used to induce hypergolicity when dissolved in other solutions• Can be used as an additive to reduce ignition delay times in known
propellants – Decaboronate ignition delay: < 3 ms – Hydrazine: ~15 ms
• Salts can be suspended in ionic liquids – Not sensitive to water
• Will ignite on contact with safer and benign oxidizers such as 99% or 70% nitric acid which can replace liquid oxygen in RP-1 bipropellant.– Reduces inefficiencies of storing liquid oxygen– Lowers toxicity and hazardousness of propellant storage.
Advantages
Dr. Robin Rogers• Ph.D. Chemistry• Adjunct Professor at The University
of Alabama• Canada Excellence Research Chair
at McGill University • Over 100 patents filed
Inventor
