Burning Metals Research Articles

Sharp snow

To find new ways to make abrasive materials that can cut through metal and masonry, Daedalus looks for inspiration in the snowflake. The way a snowflake grows its spiky branches could be mimicked by burning metals and other compounds in air.

Comment on “The combustion phase of burning metals” by T. A. Steinberg, D. B. Wilson, and F. Benz

Comment on “The combustion phase of burning metals” by T. A. Steinberg, D. B. Wilson, and F. Benz

General Trends in Metal Particles Heterogeneous Combustion

Abstract Experimental results concerning combustion of freely falling particles of copper, tungsten, steel, tantalum and molybdenum are presented in this paper. The experiments were carried out by the setup based on a method of forming and igniting monodisperse metal particles in pulsed discharge, developed at Odessa State University. The existence of flashes and corresponding temperature jumps during combustion of particles of the above metals in air and the existence of analogous jumps in the temperature curves of the underburned particles cooling in the inert gas have been ascertained. It has been found that dissolved oxygen is inside the particles during their burning. It is also shown that the reaction rate of metal particles heterogeneous combustion under the considered conditions is not limited by diffusion of oxygen to the metal surface. Analysis of the general features observed in the temperature history of the various burning metals panicles, demonstrated that the dissolution of oxygen in the pa...

Coalescence Growth of Smoke Particles Prepared by a Gas-Evaporation Technique

The growth of smoke particles by coalescence in which two or more single particles collide and unite in definite orientations has been studied. It is theoretically obtained that the mean size of particles increases linearly with height in a uniform flow of rising smoke, depending on the mass density of the smoke particle and its temperature. The relation is verified by measuring the size of MoO3 particles in a uniform smoke at a constant temperature. The size and crystal habit of MoO3 and WO3 particles produced by burning metals in Ar–O2 gas have been studied by electron microscopy and the growth of these particles is discussed.

Electron Microscopic Study of Metal Oxide Smoke Particles Prepared by Burning Metals in Ar–O2 Gas

Some oxide smoke particles which were prepared by burning metals in a gas mixture of 80% Ar and 20% O2 were studied by electron microscopy. CaO smoke particles grew in single crystal cubes. In2O3, Sb2O3, Bi2O3, Cu2O, SnO2, CuO, and WO3 smoke particles grew in single-crystal octahedra or sometimes grew in spheres or more complicated polyhedra. Particles with layer structure such as SnO and PbO grew in thin plates. It is shown by scanning electron microscopy that smoke particles grew by coalescence in which two or more single particles joined in definite orientations.