3D printing of hollow fiber nanothermites with cavity-mediated self-accelerating combustion

Abstract

Advanced techniques, such as 3D printing, have been developed for the design and fabrication of unique structures to meet user-customized requirements. However, the traditional 3D printing technique has not been used for the construction of the nanothermite hollow structure, hindering the development of 3D printing and the further applications of nanothermite materials. Recently, we discovered an unexpected self-accelerating combustion phenomenon of hollow fiber nanothermite (Al/CuO/fluororubber ternary composite). The results show that the stable flame propagation rate of the nanothermite hollow fiber significantly improved compared to the solid fiber from 0.09 to 395 m/s (up to 4400 times higher than the solid fiber), and the combustion test also exhibits the self-accelerating propagation of combustion by the “cavity-mediated effect.” With the versatile shape-design capability, this work on hollow structure nanothermite and developmental potential of 3D printing could lead to structural applications of microrockets, aerospace propulsion components, space exploration, microelectromechanical system (MEMS) devices, and high temperature destruction of MEMS.