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Thermal reaction properties of aluminum/iron fluoride nanothermites

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Abstract

The composite powders of nanoscale aluminum (n-Al) and iron fluoride (FeF3) were prepared by an ultrasonic mixing method. The microscopic morphology was examined by scanning electron microscopy, the crystalline phase structure was analyzed by X-ray diffractometer, and extensive thermal analysis of the single components and composites was carried out, focusing on the thermal reaction properties of n-Al/FeF3. The reaction process and pre-ignition reaction of the complexes were investigated by characterizing the reaction products of n-Al/FeF3 and Al2O3/FeF3 at certain temperatures. Finally, the apparent activation energy of the thermite reaction of n-Al/FeF3 was determined using the Ozawa method, the Flynn method, and the Starink method. Under an Ar environment, n-Al/FeF3 could react at a lower temperature (613.8 ℃) and give off more heat (1097.0 J g−1) compared with n-Al/Fe2O3. In the air environment, n-Al/FeF3 also showed a lower reaction temperature (509.7 ℃). N-Al could be totally oxidized at a lower temperature with a higher degree of reaction, although the reaction heat release (1477.6 J g−1) was lower than that of n-Al/Fe2O3 (2692.5 J g−1). A pre-ignition reaction occurred before the main reaction of n-Al/FeF3, but no evident exothermic peaks were found in the thermal analysis. The activation energies of exothermic peaks 1 and 2 for n-Al/FeF3 were 113.79 kJ mol−1 and 185.45 kJ mol−1, respectively, slightly higher than those of n-Al/Fe2O3. The study results reported in this work provide a certain reference for the in-depth research and application of the n-Al/fluoride thermite system, as well as fresh ideas for the development of novel nanothermite materials.

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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the project of State Key Laboratory of Explosion Science and Technology (Beijing Institute of Technology, China) (No. YBKT19-04).

Funding

This work was supported by the project of State Key Laboratory of Explosion Science and Technology (Beijing Institute of Technology, China) [grant number YBKT19-04].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Explosion Science and Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, China

    Yajun Wang, Ruihua Liu & Yi Wan

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  1. Yajun Wang
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  2. Ruihua Liu
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Two authors helped in conceptualization, methodology, supervision, writing—reviewing and editing; visualization, writing—original draft preparation, investigation; RL contributed to investigation, data curation, writing—original draft preparation.

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Correspondence to Yajun Wang.

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Wang, Y., Liu, R. & Wan, Y. Thermal reaction properties of aluminum/iron fluoride nanothermites. J Therm Anal Calorim 148, 5297–5308 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-023-12117-0

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