Exotic Propellant for Continuous Wave Laser Propulsion

Abstract

In this study, an investigation of an exotic mixture of non-hazardous materials was conducted both in the solid and liquid states, which produced higher heat releases through chemical reactions augmented by low-power continuous wave lasers. Numerical evaluation of exothermic energies, or heat release, through chemical reactions of the target propellants was conducted with a chemical equilibrium calculation code. The results showed that the reaction temperature for B-mixed PTFE was 500 K higher than raw PTFE. In liquid propellants, the highest reaction temperature of over 2000 K was obtained for HFE at low specific energy of 3 kJ/g.