TY - JOUR
T1 - The role of aluminum particle size in electrostatic ignition sensitivity of composite energetic materials
AU - Weir, Chelsea
AU - Pantoya, Michelle L.
AU - Daniels, Michael A.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors M. Pantoya and C. Weir are grateful for support from the Army Research Office contract number W911NF-11-1-0439 and encouragement from our program manager, Dr. Ralph Anthenien. Idaho National Laboratory is also gratefully acknowledged for supporting this collaborative work with internal funds via the LDRD program.
PY - 2013/10
Y1 - 2013/10
N2 - Very often unintentional ignition of composite energetic materials (CEM) occurs when static electricity is discharged into the CEM. An interesting finding recently reported showed that for micron particle CEM formulations, only aluminum (Al) combined with copper oxide (CuO) was electrostatic discharge (ESD) ignition sensitive, while commonly used Al combined with molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) was deemed not ESD ignition sensitive. In practice however, nano Al-MoO3 results in frequent unintentional ESD ignition events. This study examines the role of Al particle size on ESD ignition sensitivity and measures electrical conductance for each CEM. Results show that as Al particle size is reduced, electrical conductance increases dramatically as does ESD ignition sensitivity. Overall, electrical conductance is shown to increase linearly with increasing Al surface area to volume ratio and the alumina passivation shell surrounding Al core particles plays a significant role in enhancing ignition sensitivity.
AB - Very often unintentional ignition of composite energetic materials (CEM) occurs when static electricity is discharged into the CEM. An interesting finding recently reported showed that for micron particle CEM formulations, only aluminum (Al) combined with copper oxide (CuO) was electrostatic discharge (ESD) ignition sensitive, while commonly used Al combined with molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) was deemed not ESD ignition sensitive. In practice however, nano Al-MoO3 results in frequent unintentional ESD ignition events. This study examines the role of Al particle size on ESD ignition sensitivity and measures electrical conductance for each CEM. Results show that as Al particle size is reduced, electrical conductance increases dramatically as does ESD ignition sensitivity. Overall, electrical conductance is shown to increase linearly with increasing Al surface area to volume ratio and the alumina passivation shell surrounding Al core particles plays a significant role in enhancing ignition sensitivity.
KW - Aluminum combustion
KW - Composite energetic materials
KW - Electrical conductivity
KW - Electrostatic ignition
KW - Ignition sensitivity
KW - Thermite
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84880630938&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.combustflame.2013.05.005
DO - 10.1016/j.combustflame.2013.05.005
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84880630938
VL - 160
SP - 2279
EP - 2281
JO - Combustion and Flame
JF - Combustion and Flame
SN - 0010-2180
IS - 10
ER -