Imaging system with brightness amplification for a metal-nanopowder-combustion study

Abstract

This work discusses an optical system with brightness amplification—a laser monitor, as well as the system's application for real-time imaging of the surface of metal nanopowders during high-temperature combustion. The advantage of the laser monitor is its combination of microscopic magnification, laser backlighting, and narrow-band filtering, which, together with high-speed video recording, makes it possible to visualize the nanopowder surface through the intense background lighting produced by a high-temperature burning sample. We used two laser-monitor schemes with short and long focal lengths to study the dynamics of the combustion process at different spatial resolutions. For compounds whose combustion is accompanied by intense scattering of the combustion products, we recommend using the laser monitor with increased monitoring distance via a mirror-imaging scheme. This proposed technique allows real-time monitoring of the high-temperature-combustion processes accompanied by intensive lighting and product scattering at a distance of 50 cm from the optical system. Both systems allow quantitative characterization of the combustion process by registering the average output of the brightness amplifier together with the overall brightness of glowing. The combustion of nanoAl + nanoFe and nanoAl + nanoFe + microAl powder mixtures was visualized using a laser monitor for the first time and compared with the combustion of aluminum nanopowder without additives.