The Effect of Nanopowder Attributes on Reaction Mechanism and Ignition Sensitivity of Nanothermites

Abstract

AbstractNanothermite composites have several properties that are not typical of conventional thermites. The nanoscale size of individual reactants is responsible for the significant differences in these properties, especially the rate of energy release and mechanism of combustion front propagation. Several thermite mixtures were investigated, including Al-Fe2O3, Al-CuO, Al-MoO3, and Al-Bi2O3. Previous studies have reported on the behavior of these mixtures during unconfined burning and on the characterization of particle attributes such as particle size, surface area, and reactive metal content. This study was focused on several other attributes, including mixing of nanoreactants in water and measurements of reaction kinetics and combustion front propagation characteristics under confined conditions. The nanoscale nature of the thermite components also has an effect on the kinetics of the reaction. Differential scanning calorimetry was used to determine activation energy of these reacting systems. Several experimental setups were used to monitor the nanothermite mixtures during combustion. The mixtures were monitored during combustion in small diameter tubes using high speed video technology and a pressure sensor system. These tests were used to characterize combustion propagation under confined conditions and to determine the effect of pressure and mixture density on propagation rate. Experiments were also performed using both a closed volume pressure cell and recoil force cell to measure the reactive energy of the mixtures.