Polymer Materials for Combustion of Discarded Parts of Aerospace Vehicles

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Abstract
A procedure was suggested for improving the performance and environmental characteristics of aerospace vehicles by combustion of discarded parts. The procedure was considered with the combustion of nose fairing panels upon entry into dense layers of the atmosphere as an example. A polymer composite material, e.g., polyethylene or polystyrene with a self-burning energetic component, e.g., HMX, was suggested as a material for combustible discarded structures. Thermodynamic analysis of the adiabatic transformation of the HMX + composite pair shows that, at an HMX to polymer weight ratio of 3 : 2, the adiabatic temperature in the course of motion of the object in an anaerobic medium can reach 1000 K when using polyethylene and over 1400 K when using polystyrene. When a discarded part enters dense layers of the atmosphere, the already heated products of thermal transformation of the middle layer of the nose fairing panels initiate the ignition and subsequent combustion of the other (external and internal layers) combustible structural materials in atmospheric oxygen.