Performance Assessment of Binary Liquid Fuels DMAZ-TMEDA with Some Nitric Acid-Based Oxidizers

A binary mixture of dimethyl aminoethyl azide (DMAZ) and tetramethyl ethylene diamine (TMEDA) has been introduced to replace the hydrazine group in space industries. Both fuels are noncarcinogens. The former has a slightly longer ignition delay (ID) time, whereas the latter has low density. Adding DMAZ to TMEDA may have a synergetic effect on the ID time of the binary mixtures TMEDA-DMAZ and better performance effects than each fuel. In this research, the ID time and specific impulse (I_sp) of the binary mixtures were assessed with nitric acid-based oxidizers such as pure HNO₃, AK14, AK27, and AK44. Using these oxidizers, the binary mixtures containing 50, 40, 50, and 65 wt% of TMEDA in DMAZ were hypergolic with ID times of 22, 18, 14, and 45 ms, respectively. The density-specific impulse of the binary fuel mixtures with the oxidizers was higher than that of unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH). Therefore, the binary fuel mixtures of TMEDA-DMAZ with optimum compositions can be proposed as a good substitution for UDMH in space programs.