Enhancing energetic performance of metal-organic complex-based metastable energetic nanocomposites by spray crystallization

Abstract

Energetic metal-organic complexes have been involved in nanothermites as novel oxidants. However, the existing preparation methods often lead to mixing inhomogeneity and small contact area of ingredients, the reactivity and functionality of the novel energetic nanocomposites are still limited. In this work, spray crystallization (SC) method was used to prepare novel energetic nanocomposites, the high-energy metal-organic complex [Ni(CHZ)3](ClO4)2 (CHZ = 1,3-diaminourea) was composited with nano-aluminum (n-Al). Results showed that n-Al/[Ni(CHZ)3](ClO4)2 energetic nanocomposites prepared by SC method increased heat release to 2977.6 J/g and peak pressure to 3.91 MPa with higher pressurization rate (1324.06 MPa/s), decreased sensitivity thresholds (>100 mJ) to electrostatic discharge (ESD) and enhanced detonation ability compared with [Ni(CHZ)3](ClO4)2 alone and physically mixed (PM) n-Al/[Ni(CHZ)3](ClO4)2. These results proved that it is significant to introduce energetic metal-organic complexes with inherent high energy in new-concept n-Al/energetic metal-organic complexes nanocomposites through SC method for a better performance of its application.

Keywords

• Energetic metal-organic complexes
• Nano aluminum
• Energetic nanocomposites
• Spray crystallization
• Thermite reaction