43rd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit 10 - 13 January 2005, Reno, Nevada

AIAA 2005-275
AIAA-2005-0275

43rd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting Reno, NV, USA, January 10-13, 2005

COMBUSTION OF CONSOLIDATED AND CONFINED METASTABLE INTERMOLECULAR COMPOSITES

Dennis E. Wilson and Kyoungjin Kim Nanotechnologies, Inc. Austin, TX 78758 ABSTRACT The term, Metastable Intermolecular Composites (MIC) refers to an important subset of nanoenergetics. It is also known as a superthermite, or simply nanothermite, which are more descriptive terms. Typical compositions use a nanoscale metal fuel plus a nanoscale metal oxidizer. The reactions produce a large amount of energy liberated primarily as heat. The high surface to volume ratio and the increased surface contact between the reactants leads to a very rapid oxidation when compared to conventional (micronscale) thermites. This paper presents a mathematical model for the combustion wave propagation of consolidated and confined MIC pellets. In addition, a review of the current understanding of MIC as related to ignition and combustion mechanisms is presented and organized into four basic categories. Results of published and unpublished investigations on combustion mechanisms, such as ignition and burn rates are compiled and discussed so as to provide a single source of information for the technical community. INTRODUCTION Nanoenergetics refers to a broad class of energetic materials and formulations that exploit mechanisms and properties that exist only at the nanoscale. The term nanoscale refers to a characteristic length scale, e.g. particle diameter, thickness of a coating or grain size that is sub-100 nanometer (nm). Highly reactive metals such as nanoaluminum particles are an important subset of nanoenergetics. Today it is well known that they can contribute to increased performance in several energetic applications such as explosives, propellants and pyrotechnic devices. The interest and appeal of nanoenergetic formulations lies in their ability to release energy in a controllable fashion, coupled with their higher energy density, relative to conventional organic explosives and propellants. A review of this technology base can be found in a DoD publication by Miziolek [1]. A quote from this article, which succinctly summarizes the concept and potential of nanoenergetic materials, is included here. In recent years researchers have found that energetic materials/ingredients that are produced on the nanoscale have the promise of increased performance in a variety of ways including sensitivity, stability, energy release, and mechanical properties. As such, they represent a completely new frontier for energetic material research and development with the potential for major payoffs in weapons systems. Very simply, nanoenergetics can store higher amounts of energy than conventional energetic materials and one can use them in unprecedented ways to tailor the release of this energy so as to maximize the lethality of the weapons. Recent advances in particle synthesis technology have allowed nanoaluminum to be produced in commercial quantities. Thus, the issues of volume production, economics, and quality control have reached a level of maturation such that companies are now offering standard product. At the same time significant progress has been made toward understanding of the unique combustion processes of nanoaluminum and its various formulations such as MIC. This paper summarizes the state-of-the-art for MIC, which is enabled by nanoaluminum and presents a mathematical model to help understand its unique combustion and propagation behavior. MIC Characteristics Typical MIC formulations use aluminum as the fuel with mean particle sizes of 40 to 120 nm. The metal oxidizer is generally a nanoscale particle or flake (nanoscale in one dimension), however, some applications use submicron or micron-scale metal oxidizers. The most common formulation is a nanoscale mixture of aluminum with molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) or bismuth trioxide (Bi2O3), and has been produced and tested at numerous DoD and DoE

1 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Copyright 2005 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. All rights reserved.