Effect of molecular perovskite energetic materials DAP-4 on energy performances of solid propellants

Abstract The molecular perovskite high-energetic material, i.e., (H2dabco)[NH4(ClO4)3] (DAP-4), is a highly promising explosive. Its standard specific impulse (Isp) is up to 3324.2N·s/kg and it is currently known as the high-energy material with the highest specific impulse among the high explosives. In this work, the energy performances of HTPB propellants, GAP propellants, CMDB propellants, and NEPE propellants are calculated by means of NASA-CEA2 software under standard conditions. The focus was on studying the trend of propellant energy changes after replacing RDX, HMX, CL-20, and TKX-50 with DAP-4, meanwhile, the energy performance of four types of propellants containing DAP-4 are compared. The results show that the standard specific impulse (Isp) and characteristic velocity (C*) increase linearly when DAP-4 is added to the propellant formula. Especially when the formula only contains DAP-4, the Isp of HTPB propellant, GAP propellant, CMDB propellant, and NEPE propellant reach 2731.3N/s/kg, 2782.2N/s/kg, 2873.2N/s/kg, and 2898.3N/s/kg, respectively, and C* reach 1673.5m/s, 1686.5m/s, 1745.4m/s, and 1758.5m/s, respectively. They are much higher than the specific impulse and characteristic velocity of solid propellant known at present, and this means that strategic missiles can increase the weight of the warhead by 2-3 times, or reduce the volume of the missile to 2/3 of its original volume, while maintaining a constant range. Moreover, when the mass fraction of DAP-4 is fixed, the energy performance ranking of the four propellants is: CL-20 propellant > HMX propellant ≈ RDX propellant > TKX-50 propellant. At the same time, the data of combustion temperature (Tc) and average molecular weight (Mc) of combustion products are also given. By analyzing the changes of these two parameters, the change mechanism of specific impulse and characteristic velocity after adding DAP-4 is partially explained, which provides a reference for the application of DAP-4 in solid propellant.