Enhanced combustion reaction and energy output of Al based energetic materials through introducing perfluorocarbon

Abstract

Introducing additional oxidizers in aluminized explosives is an effective way to improve energy performance by enhancing the secondary combustion reaction. In this work, perfluorocarbon as oxidizer has been introduced into TATB/Al based energetic materials to improve combustion reaction and energy output performance. The uniform TATB/Al/perfluorocarbon composites are prepared through acoustic resonance mixed technology, and the energy and pressure output performance are fully studied in air blast and underwater explosion. A significantly exothermic peak derived from the reaction between fluorine and Al is observed between 540 ℃ and 580 ℃ for TATB/Al/perfluorocarbon. The heat of explosion of TATB/Al/perfluorocarbon is increased first and then decreased with F/Al ratio from 0 to 0.608. The highest heat of explosion is 6021 J/g for TATB/Al/perfluorocarbon with F/Al ratio of 0.274. Furthermore, the enhanced working capacity, the significantly enlarged fireball and relatively high overpressure are obtained for TATB/Al/perfluorocarbon. More importantly, the shock impulse and first bubble oscillation time of TATB/Al/perfluorocarbon have been increased by 23.2% and 21.18% during underwater explosion, respectively. The results further illustrate that adding perfluorocarbon is a feasible approach to enhance energy output due to combustion reaction between fluorine and Al, which can be applied in explosives and propellants.

Keywords

• Secondary reaction
• F/Al ratio
• Heat of explosion
• Overpressure
• Shock impulse