T-Stoff
- For the T-stoff used as a tear gas in World War I, see xylyl bromide.
T-Stoff (80% concentrated hydrogen peroxide / 20% oxyquinoline) was the oxidizer part of a bipropellant rocket fuel combination used in Germany during World War II. It is a stabilized high test peroxide. One of its uses was to be combined, as the oxidizer, with C-Stoff (methanol-hydrazine mixture) as the fuel, in the Messerschmitt Me 163 and Messerschmitt Me 263, at a ratio of three parts C-Stoff fuel to one part T-stoff oxidizer. Because the two substances were so visibly similar, a complex testing system was developed to make sure that each propellant was put into the correct tanks of the Messerschmitt Me 163. This was because T-Stoff and C-stoff are hypergolic propellants: they spontaneously ignite when mixed. Mistakenly attempting to fill a T-Stoff oxidizer tank with the C-Stoff fuel, or vice versa, on an Me 163 could very easily cause the aircraft to explode.
T-Stoff was used to drive the turbopump in the German V2 rocket; ammonia-stabilized hydrogen peroxide was decomposed into hot steam and oxygen by adding Z-Stoff (aqueous solution of various permanganates). The turbopump was used to transport fuel and oxidizer liquids to the rocket engine of the V2.[1]
- Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) ~95% by weight
- Stabilisers: phosphoric acid, sodium phosphate, 8-oxyquinoline[2]
Because of its extreme oxidizing potential, T-stoff was a very dangerous chemical to handle, so special rubberized suits were required when working with it, as it would react with most cloth or other combustible material and cause it to spontaneously combust.
[edit] References
- ^ Oberkommando des Heeres ed., Das Gerät A4 Baureihe B, Berlin 1945, German.
- ^ Botho Stüwe, Peenemünde-West, Bechtermünz-Verlag ISBN 3-8289-0294-4 1998 page 220, German
[edit] See also
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