The influence of short-term (5-15 min) highly energetic ball milling on the ignition characteristics of a gasless heterogeneous Ni-Al reactive system has been investigated. By using Al-Ni clad particles (30-40 microm diameter Al spheres coated by a 3-3.5 microm layer of Ni, that corresponds to a 1:1 Ni/Al atomic ratio), it was shown that such mechanical treatment leads to a significant decrease in the self-ignition temperature of the system. For example, after 15 min of ball milling, the ignition temperature appears to be approximately 600 K, well below the eutectic (913 K) in the considered binary system, which is the ignition temperature for the initial clad particles. Thus, it was demonstrated that the thermal explosion process for mechanically treated reactive media can be solely defined by solid-state reactions. Additionally, thermal analysis measurements revealed that mechanical activation results in a substantial decrease in the effective activation energy (from 84 to 28 kcal/mol) of interaction between Al and Ni. This effect, that is, mechanical activation of chemical reaction, is connected to a substantial increase of contact area between reactive particles and fresh interphase boundaries formed in an inert atmosphere during ball milling. It is also important that by varying the time of mechanical activation one can precisely control the ignition temperature in high-density energetic heterogeneous systems.

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Heterogeneous gasless reactive systems, including high-energy density metal-nonmetal compositions, have seen increasing study due to their various applications. However, owing to their high reaction temperature, short reaction time, and small scale of heterogeneity, investigation of their reaction mechanisms and kinetics is very difficult. In this study, microstructural changes and the kinetics of product layer growth in the W-Si system was investigated using a high-speed x-ray phase-contrast imaging technique. Using the Advanced Photon Source of Argonne National Laboratory, this method allowed direct imaging of irreversible reactions in the W-Si reactive system at frame rates up to 36 000 frames per second with 4 s exposure and spatial resolution of 10 m. Details of the Si melt and reactions between W and Si, that are unable to be viewed with visible-light imaging, were revealed. These include processes such as the initiation of nucleated melting and other physical phenomena that provide insight into the mixing of reactants and subsequent reaction. Through the use of this imaging technique and future optimization in the imaging process, a model for accurately identifying kinetics of chemical reactions, both spatially and temporally, is also proposed.