• Dr. Greg Young
  • Naval Surface Warfare Center
  • Faculty Host: Dr. Joseph Schetz
  • Holden Auditorium

Aluminum hydride, or Alane, is an interesting material for a wide variety of applications ranging from a hydrogen storage medium for use in automobiles to a fuel supplement in explosives, fuels, and propellants. Alane is particularly interesting as an ingredient in fuels and propellants in propulsion systems, because of its ability to substantially increase the performance of a given system. For instance, thermochemical calculations using the NASA CEA chemical equilibrium code indicate that replacement of aluminum with alane in a typical composite solid rocket propellant (Ammonium Perchlorate/HTPB/Aluminum) increases the specific impulse (Isp) by ~7-8% while also substantially reducing the adiabatic flame temperature. This type of increase in specific impulse can provide large gains in vehicle range as well as significantly decrease the cost of launching a payload into space. For these reasons, alane has been a fuel of great interest since the 1960’s. While it is an extremely attractive material it’s high cost, limited availability, and thermal stability issues have minimized its use. Thus, relatively little information is available on alane in terms of combustion and propulsion behavior. Recently, interest has been renewed in aluminum hydride, sparking a series of studies providing researchers with a rich new area of exploration.