| Boron is considered a fuel of great interest in the field of energetic materials. Because of its high enthalpy of combustion, that exceeds that of all other metals, the use of boron as a fuel is highly desirable. However, the exploitation of the high theoretical energy content of boron has been limited by a few undesirable properties of this metal. Among them, one notes the existence of a resilient oxide layer on the particle's surface, affecting its ignition and combustion.;Studies comparing the combustion of a regular GAP binder and a GAP binder enriched by the nanoparticles of boron produced by this research were conducted with the purpose of determining the metal's energetic contribution. The boron effectively contributed to the increase of the energy of combustion of the new fuel and liberated an important quantity of heat (ca 45 kJ/g). These studies were preliminary and the number of attempts was not sufficient to ensure a precise value of the enthalpy of combustion of boron, which is believed to be closer to the theoretical value of 58 kJ/g. It is necessary to conduct more experiments with new propellant formulations of higher boron content in order to obtain a more precise measure of its calorific value.;This research project has contributed to the advancement of knowledge on the subject. It can be seen as an important step towards resolving the problem with boron combustion which will allow for the production of a propellant of high energetic performance.;Much research seeking to resolve these problems has been conducted in the past. Examples of successful attempts include the creation of a boron alloy (with Titanium and Magnesium) and the use of fluoridation instead of oxidation. In this research project, nanoparticles of boron covered by an organic compound, which protects them from prematured oxidation, were produced. Those nanoparticles were incorporated into the formulation of a GAP binder (Glycidyl Azide Polymer) in order to increase the energetic performance of the propellant. |
