THE WORLD'S MOST ADVANCED PROPELLANT
THE PROBLEM
Our country’s existing aerospace solutions fail to out-range peer competitors. To fly further and faster, the military must eliminate current impediments to performance in aluminum powder fuels. The military is investing billions in the development of new aluminum-based propellant technologies that offer the benefits of a solid fuel (a form simple to manufacture, use and store) and the flexibility of a liquid fuel (performance and range.) However, there have been only incremental improvements in the past 50 years.
THE SOLUTION
Nearly every missile in the US arsenal uses solid fuel … therefore, the entire arsenal can benefit from our fuel. Helicon is solving the military’s biggest pain point: range in the conventional and hypersonic domains. In these images, you’re seeing what we call a static fire test of our hypersonic rocket fuel. These and similar tests show that our fuel will increase missile range significantly. This is the solution the military and industry has been looking for.
Solid rocket fuel contains aluminum powder, which gives more energy as it burns. But aluminum is an inefficient fuel. Getting aluminum to burn cleanly has been the holy grail of solid rocket development for decades. We’ve achieved it. It’s like the difference between burning firewood, with lots of smoke and soot going up the chimney, compared to clean burning propane. We accomplished this by intermixing aluminum with other fuel ingredients at a molecular level. Instead of aluminum burning separately and inefficiently, as you see in the image above, our fuel burns uniformly as one lateral.
HOW IT WORKS
The past nine years of R&D have been focused on developing a highly efficient energetic material that can be used in any existing rocket design. Helicon’s patented 2-in-1 binder solution solves the technology challenge burdening propellant R&D labs today: controlled dispersion. We have maximized performance by blending energetic materials at the molecular level. This new composite offers the form of a solid and the performance of a liquid propellant in one. Our mixing process is repeatable at any scale.
- A new material that delivers a clean, controlled burn and peak dispersion
- Manufacturability is simple and repeatable and fits into existing routines
- Simple to use and store like a solid propellant, but more energetic than a liquid propellant
- Raw materials are all domestically-sourced and readily available (unlike most propellants used today)
GOVERNMENT CUSTOMERS
ABOUT US
Helicon Chemical Company develops advanced nanocomposite materials for a variety of industries and applications. From research to finished products, we take a fundamental chemical approach to produce unique nanostructured composites with superior properties and performance tailored to our customers’ needs. Fuels and propellants containing Helicon’s aluminum nanoparticles exhibit increased burning rates and energy densities, while maintaining or improving fuel inertness.
We partner with government, private industry, and leading universities to produce solutions that solve leading technological challenges and overcome materials limitations. Helicon has been a NAC member since 2013. With a broad spectrum of applications for Helicon’s technology, we seek to work with NAC organizations to realize these applications and deliver them to our customers.