First of all, a caveat. While I have an engineering background, and have
messed with model airplanes a lot, I'm not a widely experienced rocket guy.
Suggest starting small. You can really mess yourself up with this stuff, so
be careful. It's nice to keep the same number of fingers and eyes you
were born with. You can have a stealth Micro Maxx rocket that outperforms
all the others. ;-) At least if you have good eyes and binoculars.
I've been doing a bunch of on line reading about this stuff. I've made my
own fuel using epoxy as a binder. Also did a little bit with polyurethane,
but not enough to really test it out. I understand that people use dextrin
as a binder, and that you can make it yourself if you have access to an
oven and a few potatoes, or a number of other edible things, I think. I've
read about people using red gum, something or other arabic, corn syrup,
and a bunch of other things I forget at the moment. I think it was James
Yawn who made a test motor with double thick Oreos, though I don't think he
went on to fly with such a motor, and I don't know if there was any
additional binder. Some people have used polyester resin, neoprene cement
etc. etc. Some sites you may find of use. Some web sites you may find
useful:
https://web.archive.org/web/20230815000000*/pyrodata.com This site was up
on the regular web until just days ago. Notice all the different
formulations. Primarily focused on fireworks, but much of the info can be
useful for us.
nakka-rocketry.net You can keep yourself busy here for a long time.
Includes lots of info about fuels.
jamesyawn,net Has his own approach to propellant.
Note all the links, which include some pretty good sites.
These guys discuss a number of things that can be quite dangerous if you
aren't sufficiently careful. The idea of cooking fuel makes me nervous.
I've been making fuels to try for Jetex* with epoxy and sugar. And
charcoal, etc. for igniters. Maybe I will cook some fuel eventually, if I
find an outdoor place to do it that won't entertain the neighbors, and I
get adequate protective gear.
*If you don't know what that is, look up jetex.org
On Wed, Feb 28, 2024 at 3:40 AM Malhar Gandhe <malhaar.gandhe@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
I am trying to level up by developing a rocket propellant with the help of
different binders and curatives. Unfortunately I am stuck, I don't know
where to start. My question is where can I find a binder and a curative to
make some rocket propellant (HTPB and PBAN are unavailable in the area I
live). I see that starch can help make propellant bind well.
Can you guys suggest any?
Malhar Gandhe.
