C-Stoff (; "substance C") was a
reductant
In chemistry, a reducing agent (also known as a reductant, reducer, or electron donor) is a chemical species that "donates" an electron to an (called the , , , or ).
Examples of substances that are common reducing agents include hydrogen, carbon ...
used in
bipropellant rocket
A liquid-propellant rocket or liquid rocket uses a rocket engine burning liquid propellants. (Alternate approaches use gaseous or solid propellants.) Liquids are desirable propellants because they have reasonably high density and their combusti ...
fuels (as a fuel itself) developed by
Hellmuth Walter Kommanditgesellschaft Hellmuth Walter Kommanditgesellschaft (HWK), Helmuth Walter Werke (HWM), or commonly known as the Walter-Werke, was a German company founded by Professor Hellmuth Walter to pursue his interest in engines using hydrogen peroxide as a propellant.
Ha ...
in
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. It was developed for use with
T-Stoff
T-Stoff (; 'substance T') was a stabilised high test peroxide used in Nazi Germany, Germany during World War II. T-Stoff was specified to contain 80% (occasionally 85%) hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), remainder water, with traces (<0.1%) of stabiliser ...
(a
high-test peroxide
High-test peroxide (HTP) is a highly concentrated (85 to 98%) solution of hydrogen peroxide, with the remainder consisting predominantly of water. In contact with a catalyst, it decomposes into a high-temperature mixture of steam and oxygen, with n ...
) as an oxidizer, which together with C-Stoff as the fuel, forms a
hypergolic mixture.
The proportions of the components in C-Stoff were developed to catalyse the decomposition of T-Stoff, promote combustion with the oxygen released by the decomposition, and sustain uniform combustion through sufficient quantity of the highly reactive hydrazine. The combination of the C-Stoff, used as a rocket fuel, with the T-Stoff used as the oxidizer, often resulted in spontaneous explosion from their combined nature as a
hypergolic fuel
A hypergolic propellant is a rocket propellant combination used in a rocket engine, whose components Spontaneous combustion, spontaneously ignite when they come into contact with each other.
The two propellant components usually consist of a fue ...
combination, necessitating strict hygiene in fueling operations; there were numerous catastrophic explosions of the
Messerschmitt Me 163
The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet is a rocket-powered interceptor aircraft primarily designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt. It is the only operational rocket-powered fighter aircraft in history as well as ...
aircraft that employed this fuel system. Another hazard was
toxicity
Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacteria, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect o ...
to humans of each of the propellants.
C-fuel
After the war, Allied studies into rocket propellants continued with engines such as the
Armstrong Siddeley Beta, under the name "C-fuel".
See also
*
List of stoffs
During World War II, Germany fielded many aircraft and rockets whose fuels, and oxidizers, were designated (letter)-''Stoff'' (). The following list of stoffs refers to the World War II aerospace meanings if not noted otherwise.
Meaning of ''st ...
*
UDMH
Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (abbreviated as UDMH; also known as 1,1-dimethylhydrazine, heptyl or Geptil) is a chemical compound with the formula H2NN(CH3)2 that is primarily used as a rocket propellant. At room temperature, UDMH is a colorle ...
References
{{Reflist
German inventions of the Nazi period
Rocket fuels