Wrapping BP in Nomex

I wonder if I'm just making this up, or if it's a viable approach. For a rocket that has a lot of shock cord (Tubularity, in my case), how about wrapping the deployment BP charge in nomex and leaving everything else be rather than trying to wrap everything in Nomex? BP burns inside the Nomex wrap, hot embers stay in the Nomex, gas expands and deploys everything as usual.

Ari.

Any Nomex I've ever seen will get a hole blown through it by the close proximity of a BP charge.

I think if it were this easy, everyone would be doing it.

I tried that once in the main compartment in a 54mm diameter rocket that had many successful flights and that was the one time the main didn't deploy. The charge burned but the nosecone didn't even come off. My :2:

I would ground test that idea first....nomex is flame resistant but has little chance surviving an internal detonation.

I'd be curious to see the results of ground testing.

Ari- I tried way back when and blew the snot out of Nomex- Try the tip of a rubber glove closed with tape wrapped in kevlar.The idea is reduce frangible products. Somebody used to sell ballistic panels removed from bullet proof vests. Start small or you won't get any mileage at all-LOL!

As others have said, the ballistic properties of Nomex are horrible -- the BP will tend to put holes in it.

-Kevin

I regularly do something related. In larger rockets, I make up charges as normal (charge wells or taped baggie corners), then cover the charges or loosely wrap them with some small pieces of nomex I don't mind burning horribly. I still use the usual nomex blankets to protect my cords & chutes as well. Since the sacrificial nomex takes the brunt of the punishment, it does a couple of things: 1) reduces the mess - there is less residue on the laundry; 2) greatly reduces the possibility of a burn-through of the nomex blanket protecting the chute. I started doing this after I got some holes in a big skyangle chute from hot gasses that burned through the usual nomex. The bits of nomex I use for this purpose can be used many times, but definitely get torn up - just rinse out the residue each time, and make sure there is enough to cover the next charge and keep it attached.