As a novel energetic material with quite a high energy density, titanium hydride (TiH₂) was introduced into a polytetrafluoroethylene/aluminum (PTFE/Al) reactive material system for the first time. The effects of TiH₂ on the reaction energy, dynamic mechanical responses, and reaction properties of the composites were investigated through adiabatic bomb calorimeter, split-Hopkinson pressure bar, and drop-weight experiments. The results show that the reaction heat of the composites improved significantly as the content of TiH₂ increased. Under dynamic compression, these composites show obvious strain hardening and strain rate hardening effects. Besides, a certain amount of TiH₂ granules helps to improve the material's compressive strength, and the maximum would even reach 173.2 MPa with 5% TiH₂ percentage, 10.1% higher than that of PTFE/Al. Mesoscale images of the samples after dynamic compression indicate that interface debonding between the particles and PTFE matrix and the fracture of the PTFE matrix are the two major mechanisms resulting in the material's failure. In addition, the drop-weight experiments indicate that the material's impact sensitivities are sensitive to the content of TiH₂, which would be increased to within 20% of the content of TiH₂ compared with PTFE/Al, and the reaction degree is also improved to within 10% of the content of TiH₂. The retrieved reaction residues after drop-weight experiments imply that the reaction is initiated at the edges of the samples, indicating a shear-induced initiation mechanism of this kind of reactive material.
Keywords: PTFE/Al/TiH2 composites; impact sensitivity; mechanical behaviors; reaction characteristics; reaction energy.