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Magnesium boride sintered as high-energy fuel

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Abstract

Boron was chosen as fuel owing to its excellent thermodynamic values for combustion. The difficulty of the boron in combustion is the formation of a surface oxide layer, which postpones the combustion process, reducing the performance of the rocket engine. In this paper, magnesium boride was sintered as high-energy fuel as a substitute for boron. The combustion heat and efficiency of magnesium boride and boron were determined using oxygen bomb calorimeter. The combustion characteristics of magnesium boride were investigated by thermal analysis, chemical analysis, XRD, and EDS. Results show that the combustion performance of magnesium boride are better than that of amorphous boron in oxygenated environments. The evaporation of magnesium in magnesium boride combustion process prevent the formation of a closed oxide layer, leading to higher combustion efficiency.

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Acknowledgements

The financial support of National University of Defense Technology (NUDT) is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Aerospace Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, 410073, China

    Yang Guo, Wei Zhang, Xing Zhou & Tong Bao

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  1. Yang Guo
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  2. Wei Zhang
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  3. Xing Zhou
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  4. Tong Bao
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Correspondence to Wei Zhang.

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Guo, Y., Zhang, W., Zhou, X. et al. Magnesium boride sintered as high-energy fuel. J Therm Anal Calorim 113, 787–791 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-012-2832-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-012-2832-2

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