Effect of carbon nanotube addition on the thermite reaction in the Al/CuO energetic nanocomposite

Abstract

In this work, the Al/CNT/CuO nano-thermite samples are prepared by ultrasonic mixing with variable CNT content. The morphology of nano-thermites analysed by electron microscopy revealed that the CNTs are dispersed and there are intimate contacts between fuels (Al and CNT) and oxidiser (CuO) constituents of the nano-thermite. Raman spectroscopy technique is used to analyse the structural integrity of the CNTs in the nano-thermite. The thermite reaction characteristics are evaluated by simultaneous thermogravimetric analysis/differential scanning calorimetry technique. The exothermic enthalpy of the Al/CNT/CuO nano-thermite samples increased with increasing CNT content. The effect of Al particle size and Al/Cu molar ratio variation on the thermite reaction enthalpy is also analysed. The ignition temperature of the thermite reaction is also lowered by 71 °C than that of Al/CuO nano-thermite. The activation energy for thermite reaction of Al/CNT/CuO nano-thermite is also lowered by 23% to that of pure Al/CuO. The residues of the nano-thermites after the thermite reaction at 1010 °C are collected and analysed by the X-ray diffraction.