TY - JOUR
T1 - Combustion wave speeds of nanocomposite Al/Fe2O3
T2 - The effects of Fe2O3 particle synthesis technique
AU - Plantier, Keith B.
AU - Pantoya, Michelle L.
AU - Gash, Alexander E.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge the Army Research Office (Contract DAAD19-02-1-0214) and our ARO program manager, Dr. David Mann. Dr. Gash acknowledges the Office of Munitions, Memorandum of Understanding Programs. Some of this work was done under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by the University of California Lawrence Livermore Laboratory under Contract W-7405-Eng-48. We are grateful to Dr. Steven Son for helpful discussions and Dr. Michael Hiskey for the donation of the NANOCAT iron oxide, both from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and to Dr. Shubhra Gangopadhyay and Dr. Evgueni Talantsev for their expertise with FTIR.
PY - 2005/3
Y1 - 2005/3
N2 - Combustion wave speeds of nanoscale aluminum (Al) powders mixed with iron oxide (Fe2O3) were measured as a function of Fe 2O3 synthesis technique and fuel/oxidizer composition. Three reactant synthesis techniques were examined; two focus on sol-gel processing of nanoscale Fe2O3 particles and the third utilizes commercially available nanoscale Fe2O3 powder. Nanoscale aluminum particles (52 nm in diameter) were combined with each oxidizer in various proportions. Flame propagation was studied by igniting low-density mixtures and taking data photographically with a high-speed camera. Both open and confined burning were examined. Results indicate that the combustion wave speed is a strong function of the stoichiometry of the mixture and a slightly fuel-rich mixture provides an optimum combustion wave speed regardless of oxidizer synthesis technique. Oxidizers processed using sol-gel chemistry originally contained impurities which retarded the combustion wave speeds. When the same oxidizers are annealed at moderate temperatures, the new heat-treated oxidizer shows a dramatic improvement, with combustion wave speeds on the order of 900 m/s.
AB - Combustion wave speeds of nanoscale aluminum (Al) powders mixed with iron oxide (Fe2O3) were measured as a function of Fe 2O3 synthesis technique and fuel/oxidizer composition. Three reactant synthesis techniques were examined; two focus on sol-gel processing of nanoscale Fe2O3 particles and the third utilizes commercially available nanoscale Fe2O3 powder. Nanoscale aluminum particles (52 nm in diameter) were combined with each oxidizer in various proportions. Flame propagation was studied by igniting low-density mixtures and taking data photographically with a high-speed camera. Both open and confined burning were examined. Results indicate that the combustion wave speed is a strong function of the stoichiometry of the mixture and a slightly fuel-rich mixture provides an optimum combustion wave speed regardless of oxidizer synthesis technique. Oxidizers processed using sol-gel chemistry originally contained impurities which retarded the combustion wave speeds. When the same oxidizers are annealed at moderate temperatures, the new heat-treated oxidizer shows a dramatic improvement, with combustion wave speeds on the order of 900 m/s.
KW - Burn rates
KW - Metastable intermolecular composites
KW - Nanoaluminum combustion
KW - Sol-gel synthesis
KW - Thermites
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=14744278054&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.combustflame.2004.10.009
DO - 10.1016/j.combustflame.2004.10.009
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:14744278054
SN - 0010-2180
VL - 140
SP - 299
EP - 309
JO - Combustion and Flame
JF - Combustion and Flame
IS - 4
ER -