Page 1 VS. CONVENTIONAL ROLLING – CONVENTIONAL PRESSING SHEAR ROLL MILL – TWIN SCREW EXTRUDER VS.

Page 2 ATK SRM / Indian Head TSE I.Conventional vs. SRM/TSE II.History III.Motor Data – Conventional vs. SRM Pellets IV.SRM Installation

Page 3 CONVENTIONAL PROCESS FLOW CONING Rolled Powder SELECTIVE SAMPLING REAL TIME REVIEW SLITTING AND CARPET ROLLING CARPET ROLL PACK EVENSPEED PASTE BLENDING CHEMICALS PASTE REST METAL DETECTING NITROCELLULOSE NITROGLYCERIN & CHEMICALS INTO PROCESSING WATER SLURRY MIXING CENTRIFUGE WRINGING WEIGHING ANNEALING PRESSING SAWING END INHIBITING DOWEL RODDING SPIRAL WRAPPING CUFF TRIMMING END SLEEVING UT/RTR 100% INTERNAL INSPECTION IN PROCESS AGING FINAL INSPECTION LOTTING & PACKING MAGAZINE STORAGE Rocket Manufacturing Nitroglycerin PREROLL

Page 4 CONVENTIONAL PROCESS

Page 5 SRM / TSE PROCESS FLOW CONING Pellet Manufacturing SHEAR ROLL MILL PASTE BLENDING PASTE REST METAL DETECTING NITROCELLULOSE, NITROGLYCERIN, & CHEMICALS INTO WATER SLURRY MIXING CENTRIFUGE WRINGING WEIGHING TWIN SCREW EXTRUSION CUT TO LENGTH NET O.D. EXTRUSION END INHIBITING & END SLEEVING SPIRAL WRAPPING CUFF TRIMMING RTR 100% INTERNAL INSPECTION IN PROCESS AGING FINAL INSPECTION LOTTING & PACKING MAGAZINE STORAGE MK90 Grain Manufacturing NG Area PELLET STORAGE & CONDITIONING UT INSPECTION

Page 6 SRM /TSE PROCESS

Page 7 SRM MILESTONES ATK Funded/ATK MANTECH/ARDEC ESTCP/Indian Head Not Funded 4/99ATK Blended Paste for Germany 11/99ATK & IH Participated in SRM Trials in Germany 4/00ATK Rolled remaining paste into Carpet Roll 6/00N C 0011 – ATK Shipped 100 Lbs. of Inert Simulant to IH 7/00IH TSE 1 st Trials w/ Inert Simulant 1/01ATK Received AA-2 Pellets from Germany 3/01 ATK Shipped AA-2 Pellets to IH 4/01 N C-0002 – ATK Shipped 200 Lbs. of Inert Simulant to IH 5/01 ATK & ARDEC Participated in JA-2 SRM Modeling in Germany 6/01 ATK Rolled Pellets into Carpet Roll 7/01 ATK Extruded Grains from Conventional CR & SRM Pellet CR 10/01 ATK Fired Grains from both Lots 12/01 N C-0002 – IH TSE 1 st AA-2 runs 1/02ATK Shipped JA-2 Pellets to ARDEC

Page 8 SRM FUTURE GOALS ATK Funded/ATK MANTECH/ARDEC ESTCP/Indian Head Not Funded 10/02 ATK Installation of 200mm SRM at Radford 11/02 DAE30-02-R-0810 – SRM Modeling Phase II – ATK installation of Thermal Imaging Camera 12/02ATK Completion of 200mm SRM Live Proveout 1/03DAE30-02-R-0810 – SRM Modeling Phase II – ATK SRM AA-2 Trials 1/03N C-0002 – IH TSE AA-2 Grains w/ New Die 3/03N C-0002 – ATK Process & Fire Grains from IH SRM/TSE Grains 6/03N C-0002 – Optimization of SRM & TSE Process 1/04N C-0002 – ATK Complete Plan & Cost Estimate for Full Scale SRM/TSE Production Facility

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Page 11 CHEMICAL ANALYSIS

Page 12 GRAIN DIMENSIONS

Page 13 BALLISTIC RESULTS

Page 14 Shear Roll Mill Pilot Plant Layout

Page 15 SRM & PELLET CONVEYOR

Page 16 SRM & PELLETIZER

Page 17 PASTE CONVEYOR & LIW FEEDER

Page 18 PASTE HOPPER & CONVEYOR

Nitrocellulose Based Propellant Manufacturing Waste Minimization Wayne Thomas Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES AT INDIAN HEAD Produce a MK 90 propellant grain from SRM pellets and reduce the amount of waste generated at extrusion. Test fire grains in heavy weight hardware.

Continuous Processing of AA2 Pellets 4 processing runs on the 40 mm extruder have been carried out. The run objectives were to familiarize Indian Head with processing double base pellets in a safe manner on a twin screw extruder and to exercise our processing equipment with double base. Our first objectives were met and we have reached several conclusions.

AA2 EXTRUDED GRAINS The first double base grains extruded at Indian Head were extruded through tooling that was originally designed for extruded composite propellant. The grains were well consolidated and dimensionally stable.

FIRST GRAINS The grains from the first extrusion were smaller than the die diameter. For the next extrusion we changed extrusion parameters. We changed extrusion temperature and rate. Reducing temperature and increasing extrusion rate.

SECOND ATTEMPT We attempted to change extrusion parameters and we found that consolidation would be a problem as we attempted to change grain dimensions.

CONCLUSIONS We were unable to control grain dimensions. This has led us to pursue the design of a MK 90 die. We have procured hardware to help us with collecting the rheological data that is needed for the design. At our current extrusion parameters we are operating safely.