Effects of Emissivity on Combustion Behavior of Energetic Materials

Emissivity is defined as the ratio of the energy radiated from a material’s surface to that radiated from a blackbody (a perfect emitter) at the same temperature and wavelength and under the same viewing conditions. It is a dimensionless number between 0 (for a perfect reflector) and 1 (for a perfect emitter). Knowledge of surface emissivity is important both for accurate non-contact temperature measurement and for heat transfer calculations [1]. Piobert’s Law states that all burning occurs at the surface layer by layer and the burning is normal to the surface [2]. This may cause changes in the burn surface response depending on the surface. Another important characteristic of combustion is Saint Robert’s Law (a.k.a. Vieille’s Law) which explains the effect of pressure [3]. This paper will investigate through literature and propose a technical approach. The goal will be to assess the effect of a materials emissivity to its combustion behavior and identify a correlation if one exists. As stated above, emissivity does influence heat transfer which is also a contributor to combustion behavior.