Sugar Rocket (Motor) Project
Just before my GCSEs in 2020, I decided to undertake an easy, educational, and fun project of making my own traditional solid rocket motors (sugar rockets). These are essentially the same design that has been used in fireworks since their inception, and despite the simple, old, and conventional fuel mixture, they can produce a considerable amount of thrust.
Ideally, I wanted to build a simple rocket for these motors, but due to Covid restrictions, I never managed to do this, and so the project was eventually dropped. Additionally, I wanted to experiment with the effects of adding a metal lathed-out convergent-divergent nozzle to the rocket motor to increase its efficiency. However, I never had access to a lathe at the time, so I was unable to manufacture such a component.
After graduation, I strongly intend to complete this project, as I have always been interested in setting up a test rig to measure the difference in force when a nozzle is added. I would also like to see if I can improve this design by making it larger and more powerful.
Figure 2-2 is provided in "Easy PVC Rockets" by Jason Smiley.
Hygroscopic Properties
One unfortunate downside to the fuel is its tendency to absorb moisture out of the air. In order to prevent this, I tried keeping it in an airtight container, but over a year, the fuel absorbed a lot of moisture and clumped together. Despite this, it was still able to burn, as it looks as though the moisture didn't reach too far into the mixture.
Surface Area
Breaking the material down into a fine powder dramatically increases the burn rate. This concept is why a hole is drilled in the rocket motor.
Testing the Motor
This was one of the only firings of the rocket motors before I had to drop the project entirely due to GCSEs and then the covid 19 pandemic which restricted any travels to any fields where small rockets could be tested.