Tuning the ignition and combustion properties of nanoenergetic materials by incorporating with carbon black nanoparticles

Abstract In this study, the effect of carbon black nanoparticle (CB NP) additives on the ignition and combustion properties of Al/CuO NP-based nanoscale energetic materials (nEMs) has been systematically investigated. When an excessive amount of CB NPs (> 1 wt.%) was added to these nEMs, their pressurization and burn rates were considerably suppressed by a magnitude of about 50% due to the heat dissipation and thermochemical intervention in the self-propagating reactions of Al/CuO NPs. The ignition delay time of the studied energetic materials was monotonically reduced with increasing amount of added CB NPs because of the enhancement of their heat transfer properties. The total heat energy generated by the Al/CuO NP-based nEMs gradually decreased with increasing amount of CB NPs because of their thermochemical intervention in the exothermic reaction. Finally, the results of soil explosion testing revealed that the diameter of the produced crater could be controlled by varying the content of CB NPs in the nEM matrix. Therefore, the CB NP additives can be potentially used as a control medium, which affects the heat transfer process and thermochemical interactions between nEM components and is thus capable of precisely tuning their ignition, combustion, and explosion properties for various thermal engineering applications.