Report Date: 5 September 1997. Report Type: Conference Proceedings. Title: Challenges in Propellants and Combustion 100 Years after Nobel. Performing Organization: MEGA Energy Technology, Furudalsvagen 10, Vasterhaninge, Sweden. Sponsoring/Monitoring Agency: EOARD. Abstract: The Final Proceedings for Fourth International Symposium on Special Topics in Chemical Propulsion (4-ISICP), 27 May 1996 - 31 May 1996. The topics covered include: chemical kinetics of propellant combustion, environmental considerations in combustion of solid and liquid propellants, commercial application in the combustion of energetic materials, effective utilization of propellants, combustion diagnostics, and recycling. Great challenges still exist in the area of propellant and combustion research 100 years after the passing of Alfred B. Nobel, who deserves to be called the 'father of propellant science.' Among Nobel's many breakthroughs and patented inventions, his development of ballistite, the first double-base propellant, has had a profound and lasting impact upon the propellant field. To commemorate Nobel's pioneering and innovative contributions to the development of explosives, pyrotechnics, and propellants, the Fourth International Symposium on Special Topics in Chemical Propulsion: Challenges in Propellants and Combustion 100 Years After Nobel, was held in Stockholm, Sweden, from the 27th through the 31st of May, 1996. The Symposium highlighted the substantial advancements made in propellant and combustion science during the last several decades, and also allowed for the exchange of information about current and future developments and research topics. The volume covers eight major areas: Chemical Kinetics of Propellant Combustion, Environmental Considerations, Recycling of Energetic Materials, New Techniques and Improved Safety, Commercial Applications, Ignition and Combustion Performance, Combustion Diagnostics, and Theoretical Modeling and Numerical Simulation. Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on 21 October 1833 and died at San Remo, Italy, on 10 December 1896. In his teenage years in St. Petersburg, Alfred Nobel learned about explosives while working in his father Immanuel Nobel's foundry and workshop. In 1850, Alfred studied chemistry in Paris under Jules Pelouze, where he learned about esterification with nitric acid. After returning to St. Petersburg in 1854, he worked in the family business until insolvency forced his father back to Stockholm in 1859, while Alfred and his brothers Robert and Ludvig continued operating a small workshop. For more than 500 years, blackpowder was the dominant propellant and blasting agent, but it was limited in power. In 1845, Christian Friedrich Schönbein discovered nitrocellulose (guncotton), which proved too unstable and destructive to guns at the time. In 1846, Ascanio Sobrero discovered nitroglycerin, an extremely powerful yet volatile and unpredictable explosive oil. Alfred Nobel recognized the immense potential of nitroglycerin and focused his efforts on overcoming its instability and initiating mechanism. Nobel made a series of epoch-making breakthroughs: 1) Nobel's Detonator (1863-1864): Using a smaller initial shock charge (such as mercury fulminate) to initiate full detonation of nitroglycerin reliably; 2) Guhr Dynamite (1867): Adsorbing nitroglycerin into porous kieselguhr to form a safe, handleable plastic explosive; 3) Blasting Gelatin (1876): Dissolving collodion nitrocellulose into nitroglycerin to produce a tough, viscoelastic, highly powerful water-resistant gel, which also led to ammon gelatin; 4) Ballistite (1888): The first double-base smokeless propellant consisting of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin, providing regulated burning rates and superior power without bore fouling. By Thomas B. Brill, Haruyuki Arisawa, and Polly E. Gongwer (Department of Chemistry, University of Delaware). The pyrolysis kinetics and mechanisms of polymeric organic binder/fuels are largely unknown at the conditions of combustion. Using T-jump/FTIR spectroscopy, new insights into polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB), polyethyleneglycol (PEG), and hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) have been uncovered. Key findings include determining the formation kinetics of individual volatile products, observing a mechanistic transition from bulk-phase decomposition control to desorption control near 500°C, and establishing kinetic models that encompass desorption-decomposition processes for non-energetic polymers. T-Jump/FTIR spectroscopy allows simulation of combustion surface conditions by flash-heating a polymer film (approx. 200 µg) on a polished Pt ribbon filament at 2000°C/s to set temperatures between 350°C and 610°C under 1 to 11 atm of Ar. Rapid-scan transmission IR spectra of evolved volatile products are acquired every 100 ms at 4 cm⁻¹ resolution. Multivariate chemometrics and non-negative least squares regression are employed across the full 600-4000 cm⁻¹ spectrum to determine simultaneous time-dependent concentrations and formation kinetics of complex product mixtures.