Behaviors of an energetic material under tribological stresses : Control conditions research of manufacturing security ; Comportements sous sollicitations tribologiques d'un matériau énergétique : Recherche des conditions de contrôle de la sécurité de fabrication

Abstract

By definition, energetic materials can deliver a huge amount of gas and cause different kinds of phenomena, such as: burning, deflagration or detonation. These materials are mainly used in the automotive industry (airbag deployment), military devices (missiles, ammunition) and space launchers (Ariane 5 boosters and pyrotechnic devices). The manufacturing process, although well controlled by the historical "batch" process, presents several challenges when it is transferred to the continuous mixing process, using a twin-screw mixer device. Indeed, this last device induces extreme evolutions of pressure gradients and shearing gradients (reduced air-gap.). Plus, the energetic material is composed of fluid components and different diameters of solid components that can ignite by shearing. Consequently, tribological conditions leading to the ignition of an energetic material, a solid propellant, are studied during its manufacturing in a twin-screw mixer. Unfortunately, because of the industrial confidentiality on solid propellants, the bibliography on the solid propellants tribology is limited. However it appears that too few studies have effectively dealt with the tribological behaviour of this third body. By nature, this last is a composite material; therefore it is necessary to understand internal flows that evolve from tribological stresses. Thus, a coupled approach experimental and numerical is chosen in order to reproduce the mechanical elementary stresses applied by the two first bodies (top of screw thread and bore of the barrel element), and undergone by the third body during its manufacturing in a twin-screw mixer (compression and shearing). This approach consists of the instrumentation of a security test that shears the solid propellant and a discrete element simulation of the tribological triplet (inferior and superior first bodies, and the third body). The distinctive tribological behaviour of this third body appears obvious: different types of component segregations lead to a three superposed layer ...