Influence of the Hierarchy Structure of Aluminum Particles on Density, Combustion Efficiency, and Ignition Delay

TL;DR

This paper studies how combining micron and nano aluminum particles improves combustion performance and density in explosive formulations.

Contribution

A novel in situ method to create mAl@nAl composites with enhanced combustion efficiency and density is proposed and evaluated.

Findings

mAl@nAl composites achieved a maximum density of 1.13 g/cm³, close to commercial graded Al products.

Combustion efficiency of mAl@nAl composites was 8.26% higher than physically graded counterparts.

Combustion temperatures of mAl@nAl composites were 1.15–1.45 times higher than physically graded ones.

Abstract

Aluminum nanoparticles (nAl) have received sustained interest due to their higher reactivity than micron aluminum particles (mAl). However, in practice, the densities of explosive formulations with nAl are far smaller than those with mAl, which greatly undercuts the energy release performance. To take advantages of both kinds of Al particles, in situ integration of mAl@nAl composites was proposed and evaluated. The mAl@nAl composites were prepared by in situ electrical explosion of Al wire. Their morphology, density, and specific surface area (SSA) were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), densimetry, and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), respectively. SEM showed that nAl uniformly adhered to the surface of mAl. With the increase in voltage, the average diameter and density of the composites decreased, but the SSA of the composites increased. And the largest density of the composites was 1.13 g/cm3, comparable to that of the commercial graded Al product (1.25 g/cm3). Meanwhile, the highest SSA of the composites was 12.1192 m2/g. In addition, the combustion efficiency of mAl@nAl composites at 20 kV was 8.26% higher than that of physically graded counterparts. The constant-volume combustion test under zero oxygen balance revealed that the pressurization rate and peak pressure of mAl@nAl composites prepared at 20 kV were the highest of all. Furthermore, constant-volume combustion under constant heat showed that the combustion temperatures of mAl@nAl composites were 1.15–1.45 times higher than those of physically graded counterparts. Finally, the ignition delay of mAl@nAl composites was reduced with the increase in explosion voltage.

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