Alternative oxidants and processing procedures for pyrotechnic time delays

dc.contributor.advisorFocke, Walter Wilhelmen
dc.contributor.emailisabel.ferreira@sappi.comen
dc.contributor.postgraduateRicco, Isabel Maria Moreiraen
dc.date.accessioned2013-09-07T12:34:41Z
dc.date.available2005-09-13en
dc.date.available2013-09-07T12:34:41Z
dc.date.created2004-12-12en
dc.date.issued2006-09-13en
dc.date.submitted2005-09-13en
dc.descriptionDissertation (MEng (Chemical Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2006.en
dc.description.abstractThis study was directed at the pyrotechnic time delay compositions that are used in detonator assemblies. The objectives were to: --Investigate effective alternatives for the barium and lead-based oxidants currently used, maintaining the use of silicon as fuel --Develop easy to use, realistic measurement techniques for burn rates and shock tube ignitability --Determine the variables that affect burn rate, and --Evaluate alternative processing routes to facilitate intimate mixing of the component powders. Lead chromate and copper antimonite were found to be suitable oxidants for silicon in time delay compositions. They were ignitable by shock tubing, a relatively weak ignition source. The measured burn speeds for these systems showed a bimodal dependence on stoichiometry. Measured burn rates varied between 6-28 mm/s. Lead chromate is potentially a suitable alternative to the oxidant currently used in the medium burn rate commercial composition. It burns faster than copper antimonite. The latter is potentially a suitable replacement oxidant for the slow and medium compositions. Antimony trioxide-based compositions exhibited unreliable performance with respect to ignition with shock tubing. The addition of aluminium powder or fumed silica was found to reduce the burn rate. Increasing the silicon particle size (<3,5<font face="symbol">m</font>m) also decreased the burn speed for copper antimonite and lead chromate compositions. Addition of fumed silica improved the flow properties of the lead chromate, copper antimonite and antimony trioxide powders allowing for easier mixing. The silicon powder was found to react violently with water in alkaline solutions. This makes particle dispersion in a wet-mixing process problematic.en
dc.description.availabilityunrestricteden
dc.description.departmentChemical Engineeringen
dc.identifier.citationRicco, I 2004, Alternative oxidants and processing procedures for pyrotechnic time delays, MEng dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://hdl.handle.net/2263/27915 >en
dc.identifier.upetdurlhttp://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-09132005-115831/en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/27915
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherUniversity of Pretoriaen_ZA
dc.rights© 2004, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.en
dc.subjectDetonatoren
dc.subjectAntimony trioxideen
dc.subjectLead chromateen
dc.subjectSiliconen
dc.subjectBurn speeden
dc.subjectCopper antimoniteen
dc.subjectTime delayen
dc.subjectPyrotechnicen
dc.subjectUCTDen_US
dc.titleAlternative oxidants and processing procedures for pyrotechnic time delaysen
dc.typeDissertationen

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