Partel, G., Laurienzo, P., and Diamantini, F., "An Italian Approach to
Reusable Low-Cost Rockets," SAE Technical Paper 670386, 1967,
https://doi.org/10.4271/670386.
Apparently it was a salt of some kind ? At a glance I don't find further
articles by any of the three authors.
On Fri, Jul 26, 2019 at 9:27 AM Redacted sender jkraieski for DMARC <
dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
First I will give you my background. I am a retired Manufacturing Engineer
who has been out of the rocketry scene for over 20 years.
I was a member of Tripoli in the past and flew up to and including M size
motors. I also built a monopropellant engine for static testing
back in the day. My passion however, has always been to build a hot
water/steam powered engine which I now intend to complete.
What I am looking for is a “chemist” who can figure out what chemical(s)
were used by Glauco Partel of Italy, who in the late 1960s for
his Grillo 1 and Grillo 2 rockets which used an exothermic reaction to
“instantly” heat the water to approx 600 deg F. Below are his
stated parameters from his published report:
1. Rapidity of use (the chemical reaction is fully developed
within 0.3 sec)
2. Efflux independent of the production of energy (the controls
for the
reaction and the efflux are independent, one from the
other)
3. No need for any ground equipment
4. The prepackaged, loaded engine can be stored for an indefinite
period
of time
5. No need for any insulation of the engine walls
6. Outstanding reliability and safety in use
7. Low operating temperature (about 600 F)
8. No gas, such as hydrogen, is produced
9. The reaction takes place in the water and generates a reaction
product
entirely soluble in water.
To me, this sounds like unobtainium but he did publish a report with those
specs and flew two
rather large rockets.
Regards - John
