Rick:
Thanks.
The low surface energy of silicone makes it hard to bond to, which is why
is is apparently rarely used for propellant insulation; as you note, it is
very good as an ablative, particularly w/ chopped Kevlar and the like.
Bill
On Thu, Mar 1, 2018 at 8:18 AM Rick Maschek <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
I use silicon rubber for casting KNSB (sugar) propellant grains because it
doesn't stick. I often apply Red RTV silicone gasket sealant to the
aluminum bulkheads of my motors as insulation (again using KNSB propellant)
and it sticks for that application. One of the NASA SLI teams I mentor
forgot their APCP motor seal disk used to insulate the bulkhead end of the
motor. I cut out a disk from a sheet of silicone rubber to use...it worked.
Never tried applying it directly to APCP/HTPB propellant.
From: William Claybaugh <wclaybaugh2@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2018 16:26:49 -0700
Subject: [AR] Insulation, again
Is there any reason one cannot use silicone rubber sheet for insulation?
It offers double the temperature resistance of EPDM and cost about 2/3 as
much; are there any problems bonding it to metal or bonding HTPB propellant
to it?
Bill
