SBIR-STTR Award

Current state of the art oxidizers have been in service for decades, leaving the performance of our munitions and propulsion systems unchanged while our tactical objectives have increased in their requirements. Keeping with ongoing changes in the worlds military, maintaining a tactical advantage while meeting or exceeding mission capability requirements is of utmost importance for our nation. As such, the DoD thus requires a new generation of oxidizers with increased performance and reduced sensitivity to thermal, impact and shock stimuli. Specifically, these new oxidizers will have to show an energy greater than HMX while offering a sensitivity profile better than TNT. Moreover, an increase in impulse density and specific impulse (Isp) while offering a long service life is highly desirable especially if the material is also classified as insensitive. A key challenge is the development of novel compounds offering improved performance while maintaining suitable mechanical properties throughout the long service life. The identification, optimization and manufacture of the next generation of oxidizers requires a holistic approach to the problem. Our team will address this opportunity by enabling the rapid development of a new class of energetic oxidizers for propellant formulations.

Benefit:
demonstrate viability in an energetic formulation which permits a weapon system to meet mission capability requirements; exhibit sufficient mechanical and chemical robustness to meet service requirements over a wide temperature range to meet mission capability requirements

Keywords:
Propulsion, Propulsion, high-density, explosives, propellants, oxidizer, Scale-up

CL-20 is the most powerful conventional explosive known, but its high cost has limited its adoption in a range of potential applications. Par of the challenge in making these materials is the complexity of the reaction used to prepare the polycyclic cage. The complexity of this reaction makes it difficult to have insight into the reaction and to improve it. Additionally, several of the intermediates and reaction byproducts are challenging to analyze with typical analytical techniques. In the research program proposed, we would apply cutting edge analytical techniques in combination with flow chemistry techniques to collect detailed data about the relevant chemical reactions, while also enabling access to process conditions that would not be accessible using batch conditions.

Benefit:
The alternative chemistry proposed herein will be optimized and developed to enable commercialization of low-cost CL-20.

Keywords:
energetic, oxidizer, Propellant, low cost CL-20, novel precursor, flow chemistry