Why Have I Not Seen Any Blue Rocket Plume Solid Boosters?

[Spacescifi]

As I am aware a blue flame is hotter than a yellow one, which means a more energetic reaction.... which may even mean higher thrust.

 

Has anyone ever made a SRB with blue rocket plume exhaust?

 

I remember I saw such in the movies but never in real life.

 

Could even more thrusty future SRBs be made in the future due to advanced chemical or matter engineering?

 

I want to believe yes... since mankind has by no means reached the end of development of rocket technology.

 

The only real barriers are physical laws and waste heat, such as if you really did make a solid booster that burned too hot you may damage your engine while using it.

[RCgothic]

The exhaust colour depends on the combustion products and their temperature. Hot carbon glows very yellow. SRBs usually use a carbon polymer binder for conditioning the propellant, so that tends to be the dominant colour in most SRBs.

I suspect SRBs just don't burn hot enough usually to get into the white-blue part of the spectrum. Hotter requires more specific energy, which is difficult between solid propellants with a binder, and also more pressure which leads to heavy casings that detract more than they contribute.

Blue SRBs do exist, but they tend to have had something added to the propellant that doesn't really contribute anything except the colour:

Also movies work on rule of cool. Those are scifi missiles that can be any colour the director thinks cinema audiences will most appreciate.

Edited November 18, 2022 by RCgothic

[sevenperforce]

Certain metals like titanium, iron, beryllium, and zirconium can all burn hot enough (in the presence of a sufficiently aggressive oxidizer) to exceed 2500°C and reach the "blue-white" color temperature. And increasing the temperature isn't a problem; you're dumping enough exhaust gases that it's really quite impossible to melt your nozzle, if you're designing it right. But trying to get really really hot exhaust isn't really the point. You want your combustion chamber to be as hot and high-pressure as possible, but you want your throat and nozzle to convert that heat into exhaust velocity. 

[Beamer]

17 hours ago, RCgothic said:

The exhaust colour depends on the combustion products and their temperature. Hot carbon glows very yellow. SRBs usually use a carbon polymer binder for conditioning the propellant, so that tends to be the dominant colour in most SRBs.

I suspect SRBs just don't burn hot enough usually to get into the white-blue part of the spectrum. Hotter requires more specific energy, which is difficult between solid propellants with a binder, and also more pressure which leads to heavy casings that detract more than they contribute.

Blue SRBs do exist, but they tend to have had something added to the propellant that doesn't really contribute anything except the colour:

Also movies work on rule of cool. Those are scifi missiles that can be any colour the director thinks cinema audiences will most appreciate.

I'm in the cinematic audience, and I endorse Mojave Green for the next major sci-fi blockbuster.

 

[Spacescifi]

On 11/18/2022 at 12:53 PM, sevenperforce said:

Certain metals like titanium, iron, beryllium, and zirconium can all burn hot enough (in the presence of a sufficiently aggressive oxidizer) to exceed 2500°C and reach the "blue-white" color temperature. And increasing the temperature isn't a problem; you're dumping enough exhaust gases that it's really quite impossible to melt your nozzle, if you're designing it right. But trying to get really really hot exhaust isn't really the point. You want your combustion chamber to be as hot and high-pressure as possible, but you want your throat and nozzle to convert that heat into exhaust velocity. 

 

So Thanos apparently loves some titanium or zirconium solid booster missiles lol.

 

Too bad they are either very poor at being missiles or the Avengers base materials are OP with plot armor.

 

Nobody other than supers should have survived that.