Scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar have successfully created a highly effective additive for rocket propellants which is capable of reducing the weight of the fuel and help rockets to carry a higher payload for space missions.
The journal Thermochimica Acta published a study that noted that this new class of additives resulted in an enhancement of the performance of solid propellants that are used in rocket propulsion systems.
Researchers at IIT Gandhinagar, Kabeer Jasuja, and Chinmay Ghoroi explained that solid propellants need multiple additives to improve their performance, increase the burning rates, and maximize the energy of the fuel.
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Conventional rocket fuels like Ammonium Perchlorate (AP), which are widely used require several additives. This can take up to 30% of the total fuel weight.
To overcome this problem, IIT Gandhinagar candidates Harini Gunda and Jasuja have developed a boron rich nano additive. Jasuja said that its nanosheet form in the materials makes it an effective catalyst due to a significant increase in the area for the reaction.
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Jasuja further said, "To give a sense of the surface area, for example, if you take a Re 1 coin and normally the area is in square centimeters, but if we were to delaminate the coin and make a large number of nanosheets, these would make the same weight as the coin but the surface area would be almost like the area of a basketball court."
According to the study, the new nano additive can enhance the chemical reactions and can be used as a substitute for multiple additives. This decreases the overall fuel weightage of the rocket by a significant margin.
In experiments, Jasuja found out that adding just 1% of this new nano additive in the form of mechanically active Magnesium Bromide nanosheets increased the efficiency by 80%. This far surpassed any conventional or other nano additives.
Using the new additives, scientists said that around 1 to 8 additional satellites can be carried to space. They further said that more studies are required to explore its role in energy storage in batteries, hydrogen storage, and hydrogen production.
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