Self-propagating exothermic reaction analysis in Ti/Al reactive films using experiments and computational fluid dynamics simulation

Abstract This study describes the self-propagating exothermic reaction in Ti/Al reactive multilayer foils by using experiments and computational fluid dynamics simulation. The Ti/Al foils with different molar ratios of 1Ti/1Al, 1Ti/2Al and 1Ti/3Al were fabricated by magnetron sputtering method. Microstructural characteristics of the unreacted and reacted foils were analyzed by using electronic and atomic force microscopes. After an electrical ignition, the influence of ignition potentials on reaction propagation has been experimentally investigated. The reaction front propagates with a velocity of minimum 0.68 ± 0.4 m/s and maximum 2.57 ± 0.6 m/s depending on the input ignition potentials and the chemical compositions. Here, the 1Ti/3Al reactive foil exhibits both steady state and unsteady wavelike reaction propagation. Moreover, the numerical computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation shows the time dependent temperature flow and atomic mixing in a nanoscale reaction zone. The CFD simulation also indicates the potentiality for simulating exothermic reaction in the nanoscale Ti/Al foil.