Impact Sensitivity and Ignition Mechanisms of Nanoaluminum-poly(perfluorinated methacrylate) Nanocomposites

Abstract

ABSTRACTNanoenergetic composites are of overwhelming interest to the Department of Defense because of the higher power output and the ability to finely tune the ignition thresholds of these composites. Recently, several variants of a nanoaluminum-poly(perfluorinated methacrylate) (AlFA) have been synthesized and optimized for a variety of applications including reactive warhead liners and bullet spotters. While conventional techniques such as thermal analysis and bomb calorimetry can be used to characterize the reaction mechanism and energy output of AlFA composites, characterizing their dynamic behaviour is more challenging. Bullet spotter applications require a material to be impact sensitive at very low velocities, yet be adequately insensitive. Several live-fire tests were conducted which revealed the AlFA50 material reacted consistently upon target impact at high velocities, but unreliably at very low velocities. In an effort to better understand the fundamental impact ignition mechanism and to determine the impact velocity threshold of AlFA50 a series of Taylor gas gun experiments were conducted. It was determined that the light-initiation mechanism was consistent with a pinch mechanism, and that the ignition velocity threshold was near 74 m/s. Based on these results, it was hypothesized that the addition of a filler material could be used to sensitize the AlFA50, and that Asay shear impact testing could be used to determine a more optimal shape of such inclusions. Experiments performed using the Asay shear impact test setup confirmed the pinch ignition mechanism, but observations also revealed that the size of the pinch point was important. Finally, it was shown that the addition of large glass beads (> 1mm in diameter) was effective at sensitizing the AlFA50 material at high and low velocities, with ignition observed at impact velocities as low as 35 m/s.