Research and Test Activities on Advanced Rocket Propellants at the Test Facility M11 and the Physical-Chemical Lab of DLR in Lampoldshausen
Creators: name:  L. WERLING 
name:   D. FREUDENMANN 
name:   S. RICKER 
name:   M. WILHELM 
name:   M. NEGRI 
name:   F. LAUCK 
name:   F. STRAUSS 
name:   M. KURILOV 
name:   C. KIRCHBERGER 
Publisher: name: Proceedings of  the 9th European Conference for Aerospace Sciences. Lille, France, 27 June - 1 July, 2022
Year: 2022
Subjects: PROPULSION PHYSICS
NEW PROPELLANTS

description: The present paper gives a comprehensive overview and summary of research and test activities conducted at the test facility M11 and the physical-chemical lab at DLR in Lampoldshausen. The main focus will be the research on advanced rocket propellants and on new materials for space technologies. In addition, the activities regarding supersonic flows and cooling of SCRamjets will be shown and discussed. The activities regarding advanced rocket propellants include research on AND(Ammonium dinitramid)-based propellants [1], hydrogen peroxide [2], mono and bipropellants based on nitrous oxide (HyNOx) [3], green hypergolic bipropellants [4] and gelled propellants [5]. For each propellant or propellant combination, the main research and test results of DLR internal projects will be summarized. Furthermore, the results of EU and ESA projects regarding advanced propellants and research conducted at DLR Lampoldshausen will be presented. In addition to the main findings of the aforementioned projects, the development, production, analysis, handling and testing capabilities for advanced rocket propellants and materials will be shown. At the physical-chemical lab a broad variety of analytical equipment for non-destructive material and molecule characterization is available. Analytical equipment like gas chromatographs, electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, rheological investigations, particle size measurement and thermal analysis coupled with FTIR spectroscopy form the backbone of chemical and physical analysis at the Institute of Space Propulsion [6]. The capabilities of the physical-chemical lab to produce different kinds of energetic substances at lab-scale, to analyze their composition and quality as well as to investigate new substances will be shown [7]. Parallel to these analytical methods, the test facility M11 allows combustion tests with all kinds of advanced propellants at five test positions. Each of the five test positions is dedicated to a specific research area: At the M11.1 a H2/O2 air vitiator can produce supersonic flow conditions for SCRamjet research [8], the M11.2 is equipped with a vacuum chamber to allow high-altitude simulation and testing of green propellant thrusters for orbital propulsion, the M11.3 is a facility for basic research on the combustion of hybrid propellant combinations, the M11.4 is designed for testing of gelled propellants and the M11.5 is separated into two test positions which allow testing of hybrid rocket engines up to 10 kN as well as testing of green propellants based on nitrous oxide (HyNOx-propellants). References [1] Negri, M., Wilhelm, M., Hendrich, C., Wingborg, N., Gediminas, L., Adelow, L., Maleix, C., Chabernaud, P., Brahmi, R., Beauchet, R., Batonneau, Y., Kappenstein, C., Koopmans, R.-J., Schuh, S., Bartok, T., Scharlemann, C., Gotzig, U., and Schwentenwein, M., New technologies for ammonium dinitramide based monopropellant thrusters The project RHEFORM, Acta Astronautica; Vol. 143, No. 1, 2018, pp. 105117. doi: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2017.11.016. [2] Lauck, F., Negri, M., Wilhelm, M., Freudenmann, D., Schlechtriem, S., Wurdak, M., and Gotzig, U., Test bench preparation and hot firing tests of a 1N hydrogen peroxide monpropellant thruster, Space Propulsion Conference 14.-18.05.2018, Sevilla, Spain. [3] Werling, L., Horger, T., Manassis, K., Grimmeisen, D., Wilhelm, M., Erdmann, C., Ciezki, H., Schlechtriem, S., Richter, S., Methling, T., Goos, E., Janzer, C., Naumann, C., and Riedel, U., Nitrous Oxide Fuels Blends: Research on premixed Monopropellants at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) since 2014, AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum, 24.-26.08.2020. [4] Lauck, F., Balkenhohl, J., Negri, M., Freudenmann, D., and Schlechtriem, S., Green bipropellant development A study on the hypergolicity of imidazole thiocyanate ionic liquids with hydrogen peroxide in an automated drop test setup, Combustion and Flame; Vol. 226, 2021, pp. 8797. doi: 10.1016/j.combustflame.2020.11.033. [5] Kirchberger, C. U., Stiefel, A. D., Kurilov, M., and Ciezki, H. K., Overview of Recent Gel Propellant Activities at DLR Lampoldshausen, 2018 Joint Propulsion Conference, July 9-11, 2018, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. [6] Freudenmann, D., Rocke, N., Kirchberger C., Ciezki, H., Schlechtriem, S., \"Decomposition and oxidation phenomena of gelled nitromethane-based monopropellants\", Energetic Materials Chem. Prop., 2018, 17(3), pp. 217-228. [7] Ricker S., Kurilov, M., Freudenmann, D., Kirchberger, C., Hertel, T., Ciezki, H., and Schlechtriem,S., \"Novel gelled fuels containing nanoparticles as hypergolic bipropellants with HTP\", 8th European Conference for Aeronautics and Space Sciences EUCASS, 1. - 4. Jul. 2019, Madrid, Spain. [8] Strauss, F. T., General, S., Cragg, P. A., and Schlechtriem, S., Wall Pressure Effects and Shock-Boundary Layer Interactions in a Transpiration Cooled Scramjet Model Combustor, 23rd AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonic Systems and Technologies Conference, March 10-12, 2020, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.