A Novel, Non-invasive Method for the Detection of Combustion Zone Propagation in Solid High Energy Materials by Means of Thermocouples and Pyrolytic Graphite

Abstract: This work presents a new, non-invasive method for the discrete detection of combustion zone propagation in high energy materials – pyrotechnic compositions – by means of thermocouples bonded to the external, side surface of a pyrolytic graphite (pyrographite) tube filled with the pyrotechnic composition and ignited at the one end by a CO2 laser. The thermocouples were positioned in a line parallel to the longitudinal axis of the pyrographite tube, which was used as a directional heat guide (thermal management) and a thermoresistant structure, enabling detection of the propagation of the combustion zone as a heat zone generated by the combustion, traveling on the outside surface of the pyrographite tube along its axis. Such a directional heat guidance was caused by the unique thermal conductivity anisotropy of pyrographite resulting in low thermal conductivity of the pyrographite tube along its axis and high thermal conductivity across the tube radius. The thermocouples detected passages of the outside heat zone that were equally time delayed in relation to the combustion zone inside the tube. Dividing the distance between the thermocouples by the time between their thermoelectric response to the same (corresponding) isotherm of the heat zone, gave the average burning rate of the high energy composition being tested over the distance between the thermocouples. The proposed procedure for burning rate determination was verified by numerical simulations