Research on the Impact Initiation Behavior of PTFE/Al/Ni2O3 Reactive Materials

Polymers (Basel). 2022 Oct 31;14(21):4629. doi: 10.3390/polym14214629.

Abstract

PTFE/Al reactive material is an energetic material that releases energy under impact conditions, resulting in a wide range of application prospects. In order to improve its damage ability-considering the higher heat of the reaction per unit mass when Ni2O3 is involved in the aluminothermic reaction-we designed and studied PTFE/Al/Ni2O3, a reaction material based on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). We also designed two other kinds (PTFE/Al, PTFE/Al/CuO) for comparative study, with the mass fraction of the metal oxides added at 10%, 20%, and 30%, respectively. The quasi-static compression properties and impact initiation behavior of the material were investigated by a universal material testing machine and a drop hammer test. The reaction process of different materials under a high strain rate was recorded using a high-speed camera. The results show that with the increase in Ni2O3 content, the strength of the PTFE/Al/Ni2O3 reactive material shows an increasing trend followed by a decreasing trend. Among the three reactive materials, when the content of Al/Ni2O3 reaches 30 wt.%, the reaction duration is the longest (at 4 ms) and the reaction fireball is the largest. The addition of Ni2O3 is helpful to improve the reactivity and reaction duration of the PTEF/Al reactive material.

Keywords: PTFE/Al/Ni2O3; drop hammer test; impact initiation behavior; quasi-static compressive properties; reactive material.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by Nanchang University Interdisciplinary Innovation Fund of Natural Science (No. 9166-27060003-YB20) to X.-J.L.