Viscoelastic response of solid rocket motor components for service life assessment

Abstract

A methodology for determining the response of rocket motor materials and bondlines to thermal loadings by measuring their dynamic mechanical properties is reported. The critical temperatures at which debonding and/or propellant cracking occur and the number of thermal cycles required to induce failure were evaluated. These results were compared with those from instrumented rocket motors subjected to similar thermal loadings. A model, developed for fibre reinforced composites, was applied to the propellant-inhibitor bimaterial obtained from a rocket motor. The internal energy dissipation due to a lack of perfect adhesion at the propellant–inhibitor interface, tan δ_adh, was used to give an indication of the failure mode of the bondline (i.e., adhesive failure at the interface or cohesive failure in the propellant) and the bond adhesion parameter, C, was related to the bond strength measured by rectangular bond-in-tension tests.