Abstract
Reactive metal/metal-oxide based nanoenergetic materials find tremendous applications in propellants, explosives, and pyrotechnics. This paper reports on the synthesis of CuO nanobricks (CuOnb) using simple and rapid solid-state methods and investigation of the combustion reactivity (combustion propagation speed, peak pressure and pressurization rate) of as-synthesized copper oxide nanobricks with nano-aluminum and catalytic activity of copper oxide nanobricks in thermal decomposition of lithium perchlorate (LiClO4). The X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy revealed the fabrication of CuO nanobricks (length of sub-150 nm with square cross-section of size of sub-25 nm). The CuOnb based nano-aluminum energetic composites (Al/CuOnb) exhibited excellent combustion characteristics with combustion propagation speed of 1,760 ± 25 m/s, peak pressure of 61.2 MPa, pressurization rate of 1.02 MPa/µs and heat of reaction of 750 J/g respectively. The copper oxide nanobricks expressed high catalytic activity in thermal decomposition of LiClO4 by accelerating the thermal decomposition to start and accomplish at lower temperature than the pure lithium perchlorate.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).