Visualization of Hydrazine Decomposition in a Catalyst Bed by Using Neutron Radiography

Abstract

Most mono-propellant thruster technologies were developed in the 1960s. Those basic principles and fundamental mechanisms, such as the catalyst and propellant, are still in use without major technical innovation. However, much remains to be clarified in terms of the mechanisms and quantitative limitations of the hydrazine decomposition phenomena inside the mono-propellant thruster. Therefore, in order to enhance the reliability of the propulsion systems, it should be promising to perform the direct observation of the physical and chemical phenomena occurring in the catalyst bed of the mono-propellant thruster. For that purpose, a visualization of the mono-propellant thruster was performed by using high frame-rate neutron radiography technique. The experiments were conducted at the Kyoto University Research Reactor and the hydrazine injection behavior to the catalyst bed was visualized clearly.