Patent ID: 7051511

Claim:
A rocket engine arrangement suitable for preventing a premature ignition of the rocket engine and an external fire in an ammunition bunker containing said rocket engine, the arrangement comprising: a casing containing a propellant powder therein; a plurality of parts held together by mounting components, said mounting components each comprising a shape memory alloy, wherein a stop edge of a first one of said mounting components contacts a flange edge of one of the plurality of parts at least during a normal use and burning time of the rocket engine so as to hold the plurality of parts together, wherein a transformation temperature of the shape memory alloy is selected to be less than an ignition temperature of the propellant powder, wherein, when heated to a transformation temperature by combustion gases formed during a gradual heating of the propellant powder before an ignition thereof, a shape of each of the mounting components is such that the plurality of parts are no longer held together by the mounting components, but instead are deformed by expansion or contraction relative to each other, and wherein the mounting components are configured in the rocket engine arrangement such that it is never possible for the shape memory alloy to reach a critical temperature thereof during the normal use and burning time of the rocket engine.