CuO/Al thermites

Tab. 13.4 CuO/Al thermites with highly oxidized (49% Al) aluminum nanoparticles.

Despite the reason for the high combustion velocity being under debate, the high combustion velocity is in the range of explosive velocities, so the CuO/Al thermite may have application as a primary explosive. The more easily prepared, physically mixed CuO nanothermite has been patented for use in ammunition primers. Sensitivity data for the CuO /Al thermite is unavailable, but it is expected to be relatively high. High impact sensitivity may be the reason why there are no literature reports of its preparation by arrested reactive milling. 

Although in the literature CuO /Al thermites have not been prepared by reactive milling or sol-gel methods, unique to CuO/Al thermite is a new synthesis methodology by Gangopadhyay et al. called self-assembly. In this method, the authors coated copper nano rods (20 X 100 nm) with a coordinating polymer (P4VP) fol-... 

Nevertheless, it is predicted that the degree of compactness needed should be completely application-specific. For instance, a xerogel-Uke structure in Fe203/Al thermites should be more effective than an aerogel. However, in thermites that require circulation of gases (e.g., O2 in RF-CuO c [46, 59, 60] or the f F-Fe° system [11]), a more open aerogel- or ambigel-like [61-63] structure is expected to bum more quickly. 

Development of metal-oxide composites using in-situ techniques has been attracting considerable attention. These metal-oxide in-situ composites are mainly Cu, Al, Fe and Ti based materials reinforced with alumina through the chemical reactions between Al, and oxide powders of CuO, Fe203 or Ti02. The chemical reactions are actually thermite reactions, which is a type of aluminothermic reaction in which aluminium is oxidised by the oxide of another metal [180]. 

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