Principles and mechanism of combustion in the zirconium—Carbon—Hydrogen system

Abstract

The authors examine the principles and mechanism of combustion in the Zr-C-H/sub 2/ system in order to clarify the generality of the effects observed previously. The experiments were performed in a constant-pressure vessel with type M-41 powdered zirconium, carbon black, and gaseous hydrogen. Chemical analysis was performed for the total and free contents of carbon, zirconium and hydrogen, and x-ray studies were performed using a DRON-0.5 analyzer. In the Zr-C-H/sub 2/ system the general tendency inherent in Me-C-H/sub 2/ systems toward completion of the hydrogenation and carbonization reactions is maintained. In this mixture, as in Ti-C-H/sub 2/, the steady-state combustion regimes are not the same when ignition sources of different temperatures are used.