Abstract
Ammonium nitrate (AN)-based composite gas generator have attracted a considerable amount of attention because of the clean burning nature of AN as an oxidizer. However, ammonium nitrate-based gas generator has several major problems, namely, poor ignitability, a low burning rate, low energy, and high hygroscopicity. The addition of different transitional metal oxides and MgAl mechanical alloyed proved to be effective in improving the burning characteristics of AN-based gas generator. In this research work, combustion study of different transition metal oxide based on AN/MgAl composites gas generators was studied. Gas generators were combusted at the pressure of 1 MPa, 3 MPa and 5 MPa in the combustion chamber and the burning rates were determined. It was stated that the addition of metal oxides into the composition of the gas generators improves ignition at low pressure and increases the burning rate. The use of the mechanical MgAl alloys as a fuel allowed the ignition of the gas generator at a lower temperature. The method of thermogravimetric/differential thermal analyzer (TG/DTA) was used to investigate the effect of metal oxides addition on the AN/MgAl-based gas generators thermal decomposition characteristics.