In-situ tensile testing of propellants in SEM

Abstract

A tensile module system placed within a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) was utilized to conduct in-situ tensile testing of propellant samples. The tensile module system allows for real-time in-situ SEM analysis of the samples to determine the failure mechanism of the propellant material under tensile force. The focus of this study was to vary the experimental parameters of the tensile module system and analyze how they affect the failure mechanism of the samples. The experimental parameters varied included strain rate and sample temperature (-54, +25 and +40°C). Stress-strain diagrams were recorded during the in-situ tensile tests, and these results were coupled with the in-situ images and videos of the samples captured with SEM analysis. The experiments conducted at -54°C showed a different failure behavior of the propellant sample due to its rigidity at this low temperature, while experiments conducted at +25 and +40°C displayed a similar failure mechanism. For future testing using this tensile tester, special attention should be given to improved temperature control of the specimen, especially at low temperatures.