Technical centre
The technical centre is a laboratory building in which a casting laboratory for rocket engine fuels and propellants and a chemical analysis laboratory are set up. At the Trauen site, rocket engine tests are carried out in the engine test facility. Engine development is to be supported by the technical centre. For flexible research, it is necessary to be able to manufacture the propellant blocks required for the tests independently on site. The fuel blocks are produced from various basic chemical substances, which have to be processed in a specially equipped casting laboratory.
A central component of the casting laboratory is a vacuum casting system, which consists of two chambers: The mixing chamber contains a stirring vessel in which the fuel mixture is produced from the basic substances under vacuum. The resulting mixture is then poured into a prepared casting mould in the casting chamber. The temperature of the mixing vessel and the mould can be adjusted to ensure that the propellants are processed at the optimal temperature. Mixing and casting under vacuum is necessary to prevent the formation of blowholes and cracks during the production of larger samples. The planned propellant mixtures are primarily based on the component hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB). The use of other propellant mixtures and binder substances is to be trialled in the future, which is why the vacuum casting system is suitable for mixing and casting substances over a wide viscosity range. The system can be controlled and monitored remotely so that solid propellant mixtures can also be processed.
Reactivity tests of catalysts for the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) are to be carried out in the analysis laboratory. The catalyst materials are to be analysed for their suitability and durability for the decomposition process. In the future, the laboratory will also be used for other purposes, such as analysing waste water produced during engine test runs.