Microexplosions and ignition dynamics in engineered aluminum/polymer fuel particles
- Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States). School of Mechanical Engineering
- South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, SD (United States). Chemical and Biological Engineering
- Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
- Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States). School of Materials Engineering
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Materials Science and Technology Division
Aluminum particles are widely used as a metal fuel in solid propellants. However, poor combustion efficiencies and two-phase flow losses result due in part to particle agglomeration. Engineered composite particles of aluminum (Al) with inclusions of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) or low-density polyethylene (LDPE) have been shown to improve ignition and yield smaller agglomerates in solid propellants, recently. Reductions in agglomeration were attributed to internal pressurization and fragmentation (microexplosions) of the composite particles at the propellant surface. We explore the mechanisms responsible for microexplosions in order to better understand the combustion characteristics of composite fuel particles. Single composite particles of Al/PTFE and Al/LDPE with diameters between 100 and 1200 µm are ignited on a substrate to mimic a burning propellant surface in a controlled environment using a CO2 laser in the irradiance range of 78–7700 W/cm2. Furthermore, the effects of particle size, milling time, and inclusion content on the resulting ignition delay, product particle size distributions, and microexplosion tendencies are reported. For example particles with higher PTFE content (30 wt%) had laser flux ignition thresholds as low as 77 W/cm2, exhibiting more burning particle dispersion due to microexplosions compared to the other materials considered. Composite Al/LDPE particles exhibit relatively high ignition thresholds compared to Al/PTFE particles, and microexplosions were observed only with laser fluxes above 5500 W/cm2 due to low LDPE reactivity with Al resulting in negligible particle self-heating. However, results show that microexplosions can occur for Al containing both low and high reactivity inclusions (LDPE and PTFE, respectively) and that polymer inclusions can be used to tailor the ignition threshold. Furthermore, this class of modified metal particles shows significant promise for application in many different energetic materials that use metal fuels.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 1341578
- Journal Information:
- Combustion and Flame, Vol. 176, Issue C; ISSN 0010-2180
- Publisher:
- ElsevierCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Web of Science
Enhanced water resistance and energy performance of core–shell aluminum nanoparticles via in situ grafting of energetic glycidyl azide polymer
|
journal | June 2018 |
Similar Records
Combustion characteristics of fuel droplets with addition of nano and micron-sized aluminum particles
Sizing and burn time measurements of micron-sized metal powders