• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.299-304
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• 2013

The HAN which is an ionic liquid is a non-toxic monopropellant with high storability, and its specific impulse can be increased by blending methanol, thereby it can substitute the hydrazine. The HAN was synthesized by acid-base reaction of hydroxylamine and nitric acid, and the blending ratio of HAN and methanol is 8.2:1. The iridium catalyst was used to decompose the HAN, and 1 N class thruster with shower head type injector having one orifice was used to evaluate the HAN/Methanol propellant. The thermal stability of distributor was increased by using ceramic material to endure the high temperature of product gas. The preheating temperature of catalyst should be $400^{\circ}C$ at least for the complete decomposition. The feeding pressure should be increased to increase the $C^*$ efficiency, thereby the decomposition performance was decreased upstream catalyst, and the performance of thruster was decreased. The fine metal mesh was inserted after the injector to improve the atomization of propellant, thereby it can settle the performance decrease problem. The phenomenon of performance decrease was remarkably improved owing to the insertion of fine metal mesh.