Mechanisms of combustion catalysis by ferrocene derivatives. 1. Combustion of ammonium perchlorate and ferrocene

Combustion of ammonium perchlorate (20–90%) mixtures with ferrocene is studied. It is demonstrated that, depending on the ratio of the components in the examined compositions, in addition to the usual gas-phase combustion model, another possible combustion mechanism exists. A somewhat unusual condensed-phase (c-phase) model may be realized, in which the heat-generating reaction occurs in a foam/aerosol layer at the temperature of evaporation of the less volatile component, which the surface temperature is defined by evaporation of the more volatile component. The efficiency of ferrocene depends on the propellant combustion mechanism: in systems that obey the gas-phase combustion mechanism, the influence of ferrocene addition is higher than the influence of addition of a hydrocarbon fuel; in systems with the c-phase mechanism of combustion, ferrocene addition produces a significant effect. Depending on the ratio of the components, ferrocene first acts in these compositions simply as a highly reactive fuel; it is only in fuel-enriched compositions with a high equivalence ratio that the burning rate increases owing to catalysis of the combustion process by the ferric oxide on the soot skeleton.