Measuring the reaction rate of hypergolic propellants with a microelectromechanical systems reactor

A novel experimental method to evaluate the ignition characteristics of hypergolic propellants was investigated. Three hypergolic liquid fuels with different ignition characteristics were prepared, and their reaction rates with hydrogen peroxide were measured in a microreactor fabricated using a microelectromechanical systems lithography process. To prevent evaporation and boiling by the reaction heat, a low-concentration of hydrogen peroxide of 34.5 wt % was used as a reference oxidizer. The reaction rates of the hypergolic fuels were obtained from temperature measurements in the microreactor and correlated with the ignition delays that were separately measured by drop tests with high-test peroxide. The reaction rate measurements were fully compatible with the drop test results and proved to be useful as an alternative method for the selection of hypergolic propellants by ignition characteristics.