Radiation curing techniques are becoming increasingly common in industry because of their high-speed, low-cost, and ability to accomplish these tasks with dramatic reductions (in some cases, elimination) of evaporated volatile organic solvents. In addition, radiation can be turned on and off instantaneously, giving manufacturing engineers better process control. Since radiation curing takes place at room temperature, uncontrolled exothermic reactions can be eliminated. This program will apply radiation manufacturing, engineering, and chemistry techniques to the production of solid rocket propellant binders. A review of appropriate binder requirements will be conducted followed by the development of a list of candidate materials. A promising binder material will be selected, formulated for radiation curing and a small sample (without energetic materials) will be cured for later evaluation of physical properties.
