U N C L A S S I F I E D
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UNCLASSIFIED
1
Innovative Boron Nitride-doped Propellants
Thelma Manning*, Richard Field*, Kenneth Klingaman*, Michael Fair*, John Bolognini*, Robin
Crownover*, Carlton P. Adam*, Viral Panchal*, Eugene Rozumov*, Henry Grau*, Paul Matter**, Samuel
Sopok
***
US Army RDECOM ARDEC*
Picatinny Arsenal, NJ
pH Matter, LLC**
Columbus, Ohio
Benet Laboratory
***
Watervillet, NY
Abstract
The U.S. military has a need for more powerful propellants with balanced/stoichiometric amounts of
fuel and oxidants. However, balanced and more powerful propellants lead to accelerated gun barrel
erosion and markedly shortened useful barrel life. Boron nitride (BN) is an interesting potential additive
for propellants that could reduce gun wear effects in advanced propellants (US Patent Pending 2015-
026P). Hexagonal boron nitride is a good lubricant that can provide wear resistance and lower flame
temperatures for gun barrels. Further, boron can dope steel, which drastically improves its strength and
wear resistance, and can block the formation of softer carbides. A scalable synthesis method for
producing boron nitride nano-particles that can be readily dispersed into propellants has been
developed. Even dispersion of the nano-particles in a double-base propellant has been demonstrated
using a solvent-based processing approach. Stability of a composite propellant with the BN additive
was verified. In this paper, results from propellant testing of boron nitride nano-composite propellants is
presented, including closed bomb and wear and erosion testing. Detailed characterization of the
erosion tester substrates before and after firing was obtained by electron microscopy, inductively
coupled plasma and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. This promising boron nitride additive shows the
ability to improve gun wear and erosion resistance, without any destabilizing affects to the
propellant. Potential applications could include less erosive propellants in propellant ammunition for
large, medium and small diameter fire arms.
Keywords: nano-Boron Nitride; additive; lubricant; gun barrel; wear and erosion; gun propellant
1. Introduction
The U.S. military has a need for more powerful propellants with balanced/stoichiometric amounts of
fuel and oxidants to provide an advantage to its warfighters. The useful life of each gun is limited either
by the effects of barrel erosion on its performance or metal fatigue. The enlargement of the origin of
rifling or the down bore area can affect ammunition performance resulting in range and accuracy loss,
fuze malfunctions, excessive torsional impulse and excessive muzzle flash and blast overpressure.
With increased demands for guns that fire faster, farther, and more accurately, barrel erosion has
worsened and become a major limitation in developing better guns [1,2,3]. For example, with advanced
propellants 155 mm artillery barrels may only survive a couple hundred rounds before they must be
replaced at a cost of over $70,000 [4].
Many Low Vulnerability (LOVA) propellant formulations contain RDX, and it has been convincingly
shown by several investigators that RDX is highly chemically erosive. New, experimental low-erosivity
LOVA propellants have been produced by reducing RDX content and introducing nitrogen-rich
energetic binder or filler compounds. The resulting propellant combustion gases, rich in nitrogen, act to
re-nitride bore surfaces during firing and inhibit erosive surface reactions. The result is increased bore
hardness, increased resistance to melting, and reduced chemical erosion. The lowered hydrogen
