7: Quality Control, Assurance and Reliability

This chapter is dedicated to the testing and measurement of different performance parameters for rocket propellants to ascertain the quality of the products. This is essential for ensuring repeated and reliable performance as per the design. The various pieces of equipment used for the quality assessments, including physical, chemical and ballistic characterization of propellants are covered. Particle size analysis, V.M. and moisture content, density, calorimetric value, burning rate measurement, thermal analysis, radiography, ballistic evaluation (static firing) etc. are also described.