zinc/sulphur fueled rockets?

[shagaKahn]

Anyone ever tried Zinc/Sulphur for rocket fuel?

 

Will it core-burn, or does it need a nozzle.

 

Thanx in a van,

s

 

(did a search 'fore asking).

[cplmac]

I tried it, it burned a beautiful green for a LONG time, but did not fly anywhere. I think with this fuel you need a backpressure diaphram. I made mine just like I would a 3lb BP rocket, but I've read that it needs the graphite diaphram that breaks when enough pressure is generated inside the motor. Either way I wouldn't recommend this fuel, it's way to expensive compared to BP.

[shagaKahn]

Kool. You just saved me a heap of trub.

 

Thanx, macmeister,

s

[hst45]

My results were the same: great fountain/lousy fuel.

 

I actually got the idea from reading the book "Rocket Boys", which was made into the movie "October Sky." I didn't see the movie, but in the book the author uses Zn/S/EtOH-bound fuel. His motors were aluminum tubing, with a sophisticated machined high-grade steel nozzle, which must make all the difference.

[shagaKahn]

You gotta see that movie. It rox--whether you're a pyro- or not.

[Mumbles]

I agree. Zn/S is a fun experiment, but far from useful. With some tweaking you can get them to fly, but it's not as easy as BP. All the promising accounts I've heard of used hand drilled nozzles and cores, no tooling. IIRC the Nozzles were around 1/4 ID. 1/8" on a 1/2" ID tube sounds around right. Cored halfway perhaps. This is all off of memory. The lesson is that commercial tooling will probably not give the best results.

[TheSidewinder]

I have no references for it because I've never had the desire to try it, but ZnS fuels were, at one time, the "best" ones available. (Best being "least undesirable", actually)

 

Look for a reference to "Zincoshine" (I think that's what it was called) fuels.

 

These were made/invented by one of the guys closely associated with the book/movie pair "October Sky", and "Rocket Boys" (they are anagrams, FYI), the story of early rocket development.

 

Can't remember the guys name. Might have been the author of the book. In any case, he and his associates were also involved in America's rocket programs, both military and Space.

 

There's more than just Zinc and Sulphur in the fuel I'm thinking of, though.

 

M

[hst45]

Can't remember the guys name. Might have been the author of the book.

Homer Hickham is the author, and "zincoshine" was the term he coined, since the ethanol he uses was from..uh..a "local" source , as in moonshine.

[TheSidewinder]

Yes indeed, Homer Hickham, thanks for jogging my memory.

 

I believe Hickham Field is named after him, IIRC.

 

I had forgotten the reference to moonshine, LOL...

 

M

[cplmac]

That was an excellent movie.

[TzaRocket]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe7CPrsPkYc

 

This is one of my Sulfur and zinc rocket.The rocket was very heavy (made of PVC) stil it went ho hell.The smoke you see there is from the fuse not from the engine.The engine was 2 cm in interior diameter and 2.8 cm exterior diameter ,it had the lenght of 10 cm .It had 5 cm of propelant in wich 2.5 cm was core.It flew aboput 50 cm until it runed out of presure when the core war over and it was endburn.SO S/Zn propellant is good whit a long core.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iUj76HoUBo&feature=related

 

This one is made by Vlaamse Raket Organisatie and it has Aluminium powder in the propellant whit a formulae of

Zn :64.5%, S : 25.5%, Al : 10 %

[oskarchem]

Hmmmm... Just for info; you make your rockets out of PVC?? Did you think of the sharpnel if it catoed?

[TzaRocket]

how can i say...I was like 50 m from the rocket,plus I made it out of PVC because it was a test rocket for new developed engines:), and I wanted it to be almost indestructabele.Itt had steel plate fins and a wood cone.And until now ,the only cato I had had it the nozzle or the end plug geting blown out,the tube is very rezistant.Anyway It went real nice ......but what about the other engine?no comment on that one?

[oskarchem]

Yeah it was nice... But I don't know at what speed Wood, Metal and PVC shoots when a rocket cato'es!! but I can tell you 1 thing is that: I can bet that it will fly at least 100m

[TurboSnail]

Mixtures of Zn / S ar not able to reach pressures over around 175 Atm, Any higher than that the stuff just sublimes making sollid ZnS dross, As long as the rocket casing takes the preassure and temperature you will be fine, 2mm aluminium is usaly sufficent as a casing.

 

Teoretical mixtures is around 64% Zn but increasing this to closer to 80 wil increas thrust du to increased massflow and higer density of the fule, also, a high metal content makes fore a good heat transfeer making the fule burn as fast as posible.

 

Lose powder is actualy an option in Zn / S rockets, otherwise a long core dusted with a stociometric mixture of fine teflon powder and fine magnesium powder would kickstart it pretty nice.

 

 

>>>_@/"

[Winston]

2.04 parts zinc to one part sulfur by weight. Its burn rate depends on how small the particle size is for each and how much it is compressed. The more dense it is compacted, the slower the burn rate. It's burn rate is between 14 and 290 inches per second. At 160 lbs/ft³ and 1000 psi, the following has been measured: Burn rate - 90 in./sec

 

Flame Temp - 2600 F

 

Effective Exhaust Velocity - 1490 ft/sec

 

Specific Heat Ratio - 1.25

 

Molecular Weight - 97.45 lbs / mole

 

Specific Impulse - 45 sec

[andyboy]

I've only made one zinc/sulphur rocket that flew, and it wasn't good at that either. The whole concept is a little strange, take something that is heavier than hell and think that you can make it fly higher then say KNO3/sugar or BP.

 

I think it's more of a novelty factor or a fun project if you have access to loads of the stuff. I would rather make just about any other rocket-fuel then that seeing that it is both expensive and heavy.

[FrankRizzo]

I've only made one zinc/sulphur rocket that flew, and it wasn't good at that either. The whole concept is a little strange, take something that is heavier than hell and think that you can make it fly higher then say KNO3/sugar or BP.

 

I think it's more of a novelty factor or a fun project if you have access to loads of the stuff. I would rather make just about any other rocket-fuel then that seeing that it is both expensive and heavy.

 

 

It's actually a very good fuel. In order to make it burn correctly you have to use a burst diaphragm to first bring the reaction up to pressure. Think of it this way, it may start out heavy, but almost all of that heaviness ends up leaving the rocket at considerable velocity which imparts a very large force.

[andyboy]

It's actually a very good fuel. In order to make it burn correctly you have to use a burst diaphragm to first bring the reaction up to pressure. Think of it this way, it may start out heavy, but almost all of that heaviness ends up leaving the rocket at considerable velocity which imparts a very large force.

 

 

Didn't use a burst diaphragm but it had enough pressure to leave the ground anyway. Well, the main thing is that I don't like it, it could very well be the best fuel in the world but I won't use it again since it's expensive, heavy, hard to mix properly and a bit unreliable IMO.

 

It might be my own fault (probably is) that it didn't work but i think there are better fuels avaliable. Love the green flame though.

 

A small vid of the one that flew, probably had a to narrow nozzle which made it pop in mid air:

 

[FrankRizzo]

Cheap zinc: http://www.undergroundgadgets.com/shop/pro...2b58122883bb632

[RickM]

ZnS was one of my first rocket propellants back in 1959.

Here is a launch by a friend of mine of a ZnS propellant rocket...the flame is huge!

 

 

Rick

[NeighborJ]

That rocket was incredible, I get geeked out over stuff like that.

[Azido]

Monster rocket