Ignition and Combustion Characterization of Ca(IO3)2‐based Pyrotechnic Composites with B, Al, and Ti

Abstract

AbstractThis paper studies the reactive behavior of calcium iodate with Al, B and Ti fuel particles as a thermal and iodine release source for neutralization of biological materials that might be employed in weapons. Two different calcium iodate particle length scales (micron and submicron) with different fuel/oxidizer ratios were used to prepare the iodized nanopyrolants. The optimal ratio was found to be the one with equivalence ratio of 2.0 for all the three fuels. The reactivity of the pyrolants can be enhanced by dehydrating the Ca(IO3)2 or replacing the micron oxidizer particles with submicron particles. The thermal decomposition process of the pyrolants was investigated at low and high heating rate. The results show that B, Al and Ti nanoparticles can promote the decomposition of Ca(IO3)2, but the Ti nanoparticles are the most efficient, which lower temperature of the oxygen/iodine release from ∼660 °C to ∼400 °C. Thus, Ti/Ca(IO3)2 has the lowest ignition temperature of ∼400 °C. The various calcium iodate‐based pyrolants were shown to have a wide range of reactivity (1–4 orders of magnitude) and burn times (1–3 orders of magnitude), high flame temperature (1850–2800 K) and iodine loading capacity (∼20–60 wt.‐% of iodine), which makes it a promising class of biocidal energetic materials.