Fabrication and Characterization of Al/Ni Multilayer Films

Self-propagating exothermic formation reactions have been intensively studied in a variety of reactive multilayer films, which typically include alternating layers of two or more reactants. Here, we introduce a reactive multilayer film which contains a thermite reaction between Ni and Al.Al/Ni multilayer films which were composed of alternate Al and Ni layers were prepared by DC magnetron sputtering.The total thickness of each films was approximately 1.2 μm having bilayer thicknesses of 60, 100, 150 nm. Each bilayer consisted of an aluminum layer and a nickel layer in a 3:2 thickness ratio to maintain an overall 1:1 atomic composition.Meanwhile, Al/Ni multilayer films with the bilayer thickness of 60 nmwas prepared. In each bilayer, the thickness ratio of Al to Ni was maintained at 1:2 to obtain an overall 1:3 atomic composition.The total thickness of Al/Ni multilayer films was around 1.2 μm.DSC curves show that the values of heat release in Al/Ni multilayer films with bilayer thicknesses of 60 (Al:Ni), 100 (Al:Ni), 150 (Al:Ni) and 60 (Al:3Ni) nm are 324.63 Jžg-1, 348.51 Jžg-1, 400.45 Jžg-1 and 69.85 Jžg-1, respectively. XRD measurements show that the final products of exothermic reactions with Al:Ni atomic ratio of 1:1 and 1:3 are the compound of AlNi and AlNi3, respectively.