Effect of non-spherical particles on burning behavior during aluminum combustion

Abstract

The shape of an aluminum particle is assumed to be spherical or an equivalent sphere during the combustion process. Such an assumption lacks objectivity and leads to unreasonable approximations of burning efficiency and performance. To investigate the influence of non-spherical particles on burning behavior, this study focused on a theoretical and experimental investigation of the combustion of nanoscale aluminum ellipsoidal particles. Models for prolate and oblate spheroids in aluminum combustion were established to explore combustion properties such as mass release rate, linear burning rate, burning rate, and burnout time. To validate the theoretical results, combustion experiments were conducted on three samples. Reasonable agreement between the results of numerical simulation and experimental findings was obtained in terms of the particle burning characteristics. It was found that particle morphology (such as prolate or oblate spheroid shape) and size play a significant role in the combustion performance of nanosized aluminum particles.