Imaging Aluminum Particles in Solid-Propellant Flames Using 5 kHz LIF of Al Atoms.

Laser-induced fluorescence imaging of aluminum atoms (Al-PLIF) is used to analyze the spatio-temporal behavior of aluminized solid propellant combustion. Using alternating LIF and chemiluminescence emission images of the particles in the gaseous and liquid phase evolving close to and far above the dynamically varying propellant surface, sequences of images were recorded and analyzed. The good sensitivity achieved enabled us to track the dynamics of the flame in the vicinity of particles detected all along the flame extension and up to 1.