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1. UAIPD #: 13-0017
Decaboronate Salts To Induce Hypergolicity
Dr. Robin Rogers
Dr. Parker McCrary

2. Current Technology
• Industry currently uses hypergolic solutions
for propellant or fuel in rocket propulsion
systems.
• Hypergolic solutions do not need an
ignition source
– Hydrazine, MMH, UDMH, RP-1
• Hydrazine and other hypergolic solutions
are extremely toxic and/or difficult to store
in liquid form.
• RP-1 uses liquid oxygen which is inefficient
to pressurize and store.
• Growing demand for greener, safer and
more cost effective propulsion systems.

3. • Hypergolic propellants components
spontaneously ignite when they come into
contact with each other.
• Hypergolic propellants eliminate the need for
an ignition source and rely only on a
fuel/oxidizer mix to combust.
Hypergolicity
Only the fuel and the oxidizer are
needed to create combustion.

4. • Decaboronate salt has a hypergolic
relationship with nitric acid.
• Salts can be dissolved into other ionic
fuel solutions and cause them to
become hypergolic.
• Any solution that can dissolve the
salts can become hypergolic and thus
used as a fuel source.
• Less toxic than hydrazine and more
efficient than liquid oxygen methods.
Decaboronate Salt Technology
Ionic liquid containing dissolved
decaboronate salts interacting with nitric
acid

5. • Salts can be used as primary, solid bipropellants
• Can be used to induce hypergolicity when dissolved in other solutions
• Can be used as an additive to reduce ignition delay times in known propellants
– Decaboronate ignition delay: < 3 ms
– Hydrazine: ~15 ms
• Salts can be suspended in ionic liquids
– Not sensitive to water
• Will ignite on contact with safer and benign oxidizers such as 99% or 70% nitric
acid which can replace liquid oxygen in RP-1 bipropellant.
– Reduces inefficiencies of storing liquid oxygen
– Lowers toxicity and hazardousness of propellant storage.
Advantages

6. Dr. Robin Rogers
• Ph.D. Chemistry
• Adjunct Professor at The University of
Alabama
• Canada Excellence Research Chair at McGill
University
• Over 100 patents filed
Inventor

7. Office for Technology Transfer
720 2nd Ct E
Tuscaloosa, AL 35401
OTT@UA.edu
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