Abstract: Hydroxylammonium nitrate (HAN)/1ethyl3methylimidazolium ethylsulfate(［Emim］［EtSO4］) blend ionic liquid propellant is a potential replacement with nontoxic, highperformance and high degree of ionization characteristics for hydrazine type liquid propellants, which can be used in both chemical and electrical propulsion system. This paper introduces the thermogravimetric experimental analysisdifferential scanning calorimetry (TGADSC) results of HAN/［Emim］［EtSO4］ ionic liquid propellant with the thermal decomposition and catalytic decomposition process. Its massloss process and exothermic process under different reaction conditions at a heating rate of 5 K/min~15 K/min are studied. Generally, the massloss results show that there are four characteristic stages during the decomposition process of the ionic liquids, and the DSC curves show that there are two obvious exothermic processes in the decomposition. Using catalyst can significantly reduce the decomposition temperature of the propellant and the residual mass. Finally, a model thruster with 200 mN thrust is developed. The results of hot fire test show that the propellant can be ignited stably by catalyst. And it has a good application prospect in space propulsion.

Key words: hydroxylamine nitrate, ionic liquid, catalytic decomposition, hot fire test