The nano-aluminium particles were produced in different atmospheres by the wire explosion process. The size of the particles was measured using Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) studies and particle size distribution analyses were carried out by adopting log-normal distribution. The nano-powders produced in different atmospheres were characterized through wide angle X-ray studies and energy dispersive analysis by X-rays (EDAX). It is realized that nano-aluminium particles produced in binary gas (argon-helium) atmosphere have lower particle size. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ramanujam Sarathi

Department of Electrical Engineering

Satyanarayanan R. Chakravarthy

Department of Aerospace Engineering

Aluminum

Particle size analysis

Transmission electron microscopy

X rays

BINARY GAS

ENERGY DISPERSIVE ANALYSIS BY X-RAYS (EDAX)

LOG NORMAL DISTRIBUTION

WIRE EXPLOSION

Nanostructured materials

IIT Madras is a public technical and research university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Founded in 1959, it is recognised as an Institute of National Importance.

IIT Madras has been ranked as the top engineering institute in India for four years in a row by the National Institutional Ranking Framework of the MHRD

It currently offers undergraduate, postgraduate and research degrees across 16 disciplines in Engineering, Sciences, Humanities and Management. About 596 faculty belonging to science and engineering departments and centres of the Institute are engaged in teaching, research and industrial consultancy.

IIT Madras

Materials Letters

Nano-aluminium particles are produced using the electric wire explosion process in an inert atmosphere at our institute. This paper reports the characterization of nanoaluminium particles in combination with other solid propellant ingredients for their thermal and combustion behaviour. High-heating-rate hot-stage microscopic experiments are performed with different mixtures of propellant ingredients. The effects of addition of nano-aluminium versus micron-sized aluminium in the middle lamina of sandwiches are analyzed for burning rates and by means of scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope micrographs of quench-collected aluminium agglomerates. Nano-aluminized sandwiches with thinner middle lamina show slightly higher burning rates than micron-sized aluminized ones. The quenched surface of nano-aluminized sandwiches shows relatively smaller aluminium agglomerates than with micron-sized aluminium. The resultant particle sizes of nano-aluminium agglomerates is in the range of 1-5 μm, which indicates a higher rate of agglomeration than with micro-aluminium, but these sizes are small relative to the agglomerates of the latter. This is also confirmed by quench-collected agglomerates of nano-aluminium emerging from the burning surface of a composite propellant. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.

Combustion, Explosion and Shock Waves

Accumulation of nano-aluminium during combustion of composite solid propellant mixtures

This paper reports the production of nanoaluminum particles using the wire explosion process at our laboratory. Electrical energy is applied to the aluminum wire in an argon atmosphere to yield spherical particles around 50 nm in size. The material is also characterized by a number of methods. The nano-Al is included in bimodal ammonium Perchlorate composite solid propellants, and their burning rates are compared with those containing normal micron- sized aluminum and nonaluminized propellants in a total of 21 formulations in the 1-12 MPa pressure range. Nanoaluminized propellants show ∼100% increase in burning rate relative to nonaluminized or microaluminized ones, but only when large-sized coarse ammonium Perchlorate particles are used. Burning-rate plateaus observed in non- and microaluminized propellants are washed out with the addition of nano-Al, but the burning rates of nanoaluminized propellants register low pressure exponents in the elevated pressure range. The results suggest that the heat feedback from the diffusion-limited combustion of nano-Al particles near the propellant burning surface controls the propellant burning rate when sufficiently large parts of the burning surface are made up of the nanoaluminized fine ammonium-perchlorate/binder matrix.

Journal of Propulsion and Power

Production, characterization, and combustion of nanoaluminum in composite solid propellants

Journal of Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute

Synthesis and Compaction of Al-based Nanopowders by Pulsed Discharge Method

Scripta Materialia

Ultra-fine powder by wire explosion method

Acta Materialia

Nanostructured materials: basic concepts and microstructure

IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science

Pulsed wire discharge for nanosize powder synthesis

Transport coefficients of helium and argon-helium plasmas

Impact of binary gas on nano-aluminium particle formation through wire explosion process

Journal	Materials Letters
ISSN	0167577X
Open Access	No