A Study on the Effect of Storing Temperature and Humidity upon the Self Life of Propellant KM30Al

Cho, Ki-Hong

Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology 2006;9(1):13-23.

Ki-Hong Cho

Defense Agency for Technology and Quality

추진제 KM30Al의 저장 온도/습도와 저장수명과 관계 고찰

조기홍

국방기술품질원

Abstract

A propellant mainly consisting of nitric ester including nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine is characteristic of being decomposed naturally. And this phenomenon is known as being affected mostly by its storing temperature and humidity. In this research, the effect of storing temperature and humidity on self life has been studied by measuring the contained quantity of residual stabilizer of propellant KM30Al, which are parts of 155MM propelling charge K676 and K677; the method for the measurement is acceleration aging test, and decomposition reaction equation, Eyring Equation and Berthlot Equation were used for the calculation. As result of this study, it was found that the storing temperature influenced seven times as large as the storing humidity upon the self life of the propellant KM30Al, Furthermore, especially in the high temperature region, the storing temperature had a dominant effect on the self life.

Key Words: Propellant, Ignition Powder, Combustible Cartridge Case, Nitric Ester, Self Life