DOSIMETER CAPSULE INDICATING SERVICE LIFE OF A ROCKET MOTOR

Assignee

AIR FORCE, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AS REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY OF THE

Filed

Dec 20, 1984

Granted

Jul 9, 1996

Location

Arlington VA (defense contractors)

Abstract

A novel dosimeter capsule for indicating the condition of the solid propellant contained within a rocket motor to provide a measure of the remaining service life of the motor is described, which comprises a sealed expandable container and a portion of the solid propellant sealed therein and sized to fill the available volume within the container, the propellant portion containing a smaller concentration of chemical stabilizer than that which characterizes the solid propellant contained in the rocket motor, so that the propellant portion will deteriorate at a predictably faster rate than the rocket motor propellant, resulting in an increase of pressure within the expandable container of evolved gaseous products of the decomposition of the propellant portion and an accompanying bulge or protrusion of the container from its receptacle on the rocket motor casing corresponding to the increased internal pressure. The capsule of the invention may be applicable to many chemically stabilized solid propellants, especially those containing nitrate esters, such as double-base propellants whether extruded, powder-cast, composite-modified, plastisol, or cross-linked.

Source: Google Patents