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. 2024 Aug 20;29(16):3932.
doi: 10.3390/molecules29163932.

Ti/CuO Nanothermite-Study of the Combustion Process

Mateusz Polis  1   2 , Konrad Szydło  1   2 , Barbara Lisiecka  1 , Marcin Procek  3 , Tomasz Gołofit  4 , Tomasz Jarosz  2 , Łukasz Hawełek  5 , Agnieszka Stolarczyk  2
Affiliations

Ti/CuO Nanothermite-Study of the Combustion Process

Mateusz Polis et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

A study of the combustion processes of Ti/CuO and Ti/CuO/NC nanothermites prepared via electrospraying was conducted in this work. For this purpose, the compositions were thermally conditioned at 350, 550 and 750 °C, as selected based on our initial differential scanning calorimetry-thermogravimetry (DSC/TG) investigations. The tested compositions were analysed for chemical composition and morphology using SEM-EDS, Raman spectroscopy and XRD measurements. Additionally, the thermal behaviour and decomposition kinetics of compositions were explored by means of DSC/TG. The Kissinger and Ozawa methods were applied to the DSC curves to calculate the reaction activation energy. SEM-EDS analyses indicated that sintering accelerated with increasing equivalence ratio and there was a strong effect on the sintering process due to cellulose nitrate (NC) addition. The main combustion reaction was found to start at 420-450 °C, as confirmed by XRD and Raman study of samples annealed at 350 °C and 550 °C. Moreover, increasing the fuel content in the composition led to lower Ea, higher reaction heats and a more violent combustion process. Conversely, the addition of NC had an ambiguous effect on Ea. Finally, a multi-step combustion mechanism was proposed and is to some extent in line with the more general reactive sintering (RS) mechanism. However, unusual mass transfer was observed, i.e., to the fuel core, rather than the opposite, which is typically observed for Al-based nanothermites.

Keywords: combustion; energetic material; nanothermite.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure A1
Figure A1
SEM images for C2 composition after preparation.
Figure A2
Figure A2
SEM images for C3 composition after preparation.
Figure A3
Figure A3
SEM images for C4 composition after preparation.
Figure A4
Figure A4
SEM images for C3-1NC composition after preparation.
Figure A5
Figure A5
SEM images for C2 composition annealed at 350 °C.
Figure A6
Figure A6
SEM images for C3 composition annealed at 350 °C.
Figure A7
Figure A7
SEM images for C4 composition annealed at 350 °C.
Figure A8
Figure A8
SEM images for C3-1NC composition annealed at 350 °C.
Figure A9
Figure A9
SEM images for C2 composition annealed at 550 °C.
Figure A10
Figure A10
SEM images for C3 composition annealed at 550 °C.
Figure A11
Figure A11
SEM images for C4 composition annealed at 550 °C.
Figure A12
Figure A12
SEM images for C3-1NC composition annealed at 550 °C.
Figure A13
Figure A13
SEM images for C2 composition annealed at 750 °C.
Figure A14
Figure A14
SEM images for C3 composition annealed at 750 °C.
Figure A15
Figure A15
SEM images for C4 composition annealed at 750 °C.
Figure A16
Figure A16
SEM images for C3-1NC composition annealed at 750 °C.
Figure A17
Figure A17
SEM-EDS images for C2 composition after preparation.
Figure A18
Figure A18
SEM-EDS images for C3 composition after preparation.
Figure A19
Figure A19
SEM-EDS images for C4 composition after preparation.
Figure A20
Figure A20
SEM-EDS images for C3-1NC composition after preparation.
Figure A21
Figure A21
SEM-EDS images for C2 composition annealed at 350 °C.
Figure A22
Figure A22
SEM-EDS images for C3 composition annealed at 350 °C.
Figure A23
Figure A23
SEM-EDS images for C4 composition annealed at 350 °C.
Figure A24
Figure A24
SEM-EDS images for C3-1NC composition annealed at 350 °C.
Figure A25
Figure A25
SEM-EDS images for C2 composition annealed at 550 °C.
Figure A26
Figure A26
SEM-EDS images for C3 composition annealed at 550 °C.
Figure A27
Figure A27
SEM-EDS images for C4 composition annealed at 550 °C.
Figure A28
Figure A28
SEM-EDS images for C3-1NC composition annealed at 550 °C.
Figure A29
Figure A29
SEM-EDS images for C2 composition annealed at 750 °C.
Figure A30
Figure A30
SEM-EDS images for C3 composition annealed at 750 °C.
Figure A31
Figure A31
SEM-EDS images for C4 composition annealed at 750 °C.
Figure A32
Figure A32
SEM-EDS images for C3-1NC composition annealed at 750 °C.
Figure A33
Figure A33
XRD patterns for the combustion annealed at 350 °C. The main crystalline phases have been marked for clarity.
Figure A34
Figure A34
XRD patterns for the combustion annealed at 550 °C. The main crystalline phases have been marked for clarity.
Figure A35
Figure A35
XRD patterns for the combustion annealed at 750 °C. The main crystalline phases have been marked for clarity.
Figure A36
Figure A36
DSC/TG curves for C2 composition.
Figure A37
Figure A37
DSC/TG curves for C3 composition.
Figure A38
Figure A38
DSC/TG curves for C3-1NC composition.
Figure A39
Figure A39
DSC/TG curves for C4 composition.
Figure A40
Figure A40
Contributions of the individually identified reactions to the total reaction heat for the tested NTs.
Figure A41
Figure A41
Mass loss of tested compositions during DSC/TG tests.
Figure 1
Figure 1
SEM images of the C3 (on the left) and C4 (on the right) compositions after annealing at 350 °C.
Figure 2
Figure 2
SEM-EDS images of the C3-1NC sample annealed at 350 °C (on the left), 550 °C (in the centre) and 750 °C (on the right).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Raman spectra of samples annealed at different temperatures—350, 550 and 750 °C.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Example DSC/TG curves for C3 and C3-1NC compositions for heating rate of 20 K/min over limited range of heating temperatures.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Example DSC/TG curves for C3 composition for different heating rates.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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