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Mechanical Engineering Commons

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Western Michigan University

2018

Dissertations

Dual-mode propulsion

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Full-Text Articles in Mechanical Engineering

Decomposition And Ionization Of Ionic Liquids, Forrest Grady Kidd Iii Aug 2018

Decomposition And Ionization Of Ionic Liquids, Forrest Grady Kidd Iii

Dissertations

The United States Air Force is interested in developing a situationally responsive space environment. In order to achieve this, dual-mode-propulsion will be utilized. A new class of propellants is being developed for this application based on energetic ionic liquids. Two ionic liquids of current interest are Hydroxylammonium Nitrate (HAN) and Hydroxyethylhydrazinium Nitrate (HEHN) due to their beneficial performance characteristics. The decomposition and ionization chemistry of these two species is investigated in this work. Using GAUSSIAN09 software, reactions with important radicals are explored through quantum chemistry. The energetics of reactions as well as the identity of key product complexes are given. …