Hydrozine

[racer x]

I saw a old gas station sign from the late fifty's early sixty's it read
 " premium special $  .29c
    Alcohol           $1.00
     Nitro               $ 5.00
 Hydrazine         $ 25.00 "
 What is Hydrazine . I know it is like Ammonia . Did people put it in the gas to make it have higher octane or something? Just wondering .

[aircap]

Rocket fuel, extremely corrosive stuff. Very volatile as a motor fuel, too. Makes nitro blower explosions look like backyard fireworks as compared to small artillery.

[edjboard]

hyrazine is a oxygen scavenger,used in steam power plants and rocket fuel,and race cars,can become pressure senitive when mixed with nitro,and has been known to explode after engine shut down,very corrosive and known carcinigen

[desotoman]

For your own saftey don't even think about it. Before NHRA banned its use there were some horiffic explosions. I was told it would become unstable if it sat too long in the fuel tank, of a nitro dragster.

Tom G.

[smitty2]

 I believe (Sort of...) that Art Chrisman used it in a Top Fueler to be the first to break 200 mph back in the late 60's. It could of been somebody else, but.... I remember reading about it in Hot Rod.

 Smitty

[Ratliff]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitromethane

Hydrazine sensitizes nitromethane, making the nitro more prone to going off.

Hydrazine is not corrosive. However, if splashed on bare skin it can be absorbed into the bloodstream where it attacks the liver.

Hydrazine hot gas generators power the turbines that drive the hydraulic pumps on the shuttle. Hydrazine monopropellant rocket motors are the standard attitude control system in satellites.

[panic]

Chris Karamasines's "Chizler" ran 204 in 1960.

[Dean Los Angeles]

Hydrazine in combination with nitromethane brings an extra kick.

Anhydrous hydrazine (N₂H₄) brings four hydrogen atoms, that with nitromethane (CH₃NO₂) with two oxygen molecules that gives more bang then nitro alone. The two together combine with the oxygen in the cylinder much more efficiently than nitromethane alone.

Hydrazine is a rocket fuel all by itself!

The highly toxic properties are enough to ban it on its own. The Shuttle APU's engines use it and after the shuttle lands they wait about 20 minutes before approaching to wait for it to dissipate.

When mixed with nitromethane and allowed to sit for about a week creates an explosive salt that is a Class A explosive more sensitive than nitroglycerin.

Banned for good reason!

[Ratliff]

The shuttle's Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) and Reaction Control System (RCS) rocket motors burn monomethyl hydrazine (MMH) and nitrogen tetroxide. Nitrogen tetroxide fumes are heavier than air (not good if there's a leak and you're standing under the shuttle). Nitrogen tetroxide also boils at room temperature if not kept under pressure and forms strong acids when exposed to moisture.

About a 30% mix of hydrazine hydrate in alcohol makes it hypergolic with hydrogen peroxide. This was the basis for the Walter motors used in the Messerschmidt 163B rocket fighters.

The rocket dragster that Breedlove ran on some nonNHRA tracks in the early seventies used a motor burning nitrogen tetroxide and unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine (UDMH), derived from the design of the lunar module descent motor developed by TRW.

[aircap]

Hydrazine is not corrosive.

Not corrosive, eh?
I remember reading that racers who opened their fuel tanks after using hydrazine found that the internal surface looked "like it was coated with powdered laundry soap."
So, yeah - it's corrosive.

And, yes - it was Karamesines who ran the first 200MPH pass using hydrazine in the tank. NHRA disallowed the "record". I remember a "Hot Rod" magazine article showing someone's blower launched into orbit when the motor sneezed on a load of "H".

[Ratliff]

Hydrazine is not corrosive.

Not corrosive, eh?
I remember reading that racers who opened their fuel tanks after using hydrazine found that the internal surface looked "like it was coated with powdered laundry soap."
So, yeah - it's corrosive.

And, yes - it was Karamesines who ran the first 200MPH pass using hydrazine in the tank. NHRA disallowed the "record". I remember a "Hot Rod" magazine article showing someone's blower launched into orbit when the motor sneezed on a load of "H".

Hydrazine is used in many other applications as a corrosion inhibitor.

[racer x]

Wow
Thank you all for the history lesson and information. It sounded like good stuff. From the good old days .

[dick elliott]

In the mid 60's, Ray Capps put his right cylinder head (426 Hemi) into the Green Valley grand stands, useing hydrozine and nitro, in the "Head hunter funny car". Very bad stuff.

[edweldon]

I love the hydrazine stories.  Crazy stuff!!
40 some years ago when I was a test engineer working on the Thiokol Dynastar diesel engine project at the Lake Denmark, NJ, Reaction Motors test site.  I heard the story of a tech who accidentally spilled hydrazine on his pants.  They (the pants) disappeared in a flash of flame. Luckily he got away with some minor 1st degree burns and a story to tell.  The Reaction Motors crew there were some pretty bright sorts.  I thinks that's why they had a pretty good safety record in spite of the hazards.
We test engineers on the diesel engine project had our office in a construction trailer some 75 feet from one of the rocket motor test cells.  About once a day they'd fire one of those things off and the walls of the trailer next to my desk would deflect in about half an inch.
That actually was a real fun job.......I was real sorry that it only lasted a year.
Ed Weldon

[aircap]

Hydrazine is used in many other applications as a corrosion inhibitor.

That may be true, Franklin - but according to the MSDS sheet for Hydrazine it is described as corrosive. OK?