As mentioned in the last update of the Solid Six, we are confident that our new propellant, ALAN-7, is ready for use in a real rocket motor. And that is exactly what we are going to do in the coming weeks!
During the last months, we have been working on the design and production of a re-usable and flexible motor design. Flexible means that the propellant and nozzle geometry may be changed without having to produce a complete new motor. This makes it possible to test our propellant in a wide range of operating conditions.
In its standard configuration, the motor contains 1.2 kg of propellant in a BATES-grain configuration. This will hopefully result in a steady burn of about 2.5 seconds, wherein the motor produces almost 100 kg of thrust. Altering the nozzle geometry may lead to longer or shorter burn times, with lower or higher thrust.
The motor consists of an aluminum casing with an aluminum endcap and a nozzle with interchangeable insert. Currently, the nozzle is made of graphite, but experiments with different materials will also be conducted. During our research with the Pressure Test Device, we discovered that erosion of the steel nozzle can be quite severe under certain conditions. Different materials may be more resistant to the flow of hot gas and thus provide a better nozzle.
Next to the motor, a special test bench is developed to record the thrust that the motor produces. This device is made of square steel tubing, which makes it strong and rigid. It is designed to be easily transportable from and to the test field. This makes testing easy and therefore, many tests can be conducted in a short time.
We have finalized the fabrication of the motor this week and the result is Catia-perfect. Some photos are attached to this blog to give an impression of the overall result. The test bench is being fabricated at the moment and will be ready next week.
New blogs will be posted when the first test results are in!
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 Turning the nozzle |
 According to drawing |
 Nozzle and insert |
 Exploded view |
 Igniter detail |
 Endcap and igniter |
One Response
I remember from seing foundries in action that the crucibles they used tended not to be pure graphite but tended to be porclain/graphite or sillicon/graphite for hardness if that hellps at all as a observation.
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