Direct Deposit of Fiber Reinforced Energetic NanoComposites

Abstract

The ideal situation of assembling an energetic nanoparticles‐polymer matrix is obtaining materials with high particle loading while still maintaining mechanical integrity. In this paper, we introduced a direct deposition approach to create a reactive polymer fiber reinforced composite with aluminum (Al‐NPs) and copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO‐NPs) in a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) reactive binder. Even with up to 70 wt % thermite, these films still maintain a uniform morphology and considerable flexibility. With the same overall material composition, both the reactive and mechanical properties of fiber reinforced films shown marked improvement over the corresponding non‐nanofiber films. The combustion propagation velocity of fiber reinforced films is up to 1.8 times faster than the corresponding non‐nanofiber films. For the mechanical properties, the films with 110 nm diameter fibers were 2.3, 23 and 5.8 times superior in tensile strength, strain and toughness respectively, as compared to films with the same mass loading but with no fibers. The results suggest deploying a fiber reinforced structure enables fabrication of nanocomposite with high loadings of energetic materials. These result imply that a 3‐D printing approach may demonstrate significant advantages in developing advanced propulsion systems.

Progress in Electrohydrodynamic Atomization Preparation of Energetic Materials with Controlled Microstructures

“…Adding nanostructured materials or changing the overall arrangement of layers can enhance the reactivity and mechanical properties of films. Nanofiber-reinforced and laminated multilayered structures have been proposed by Li [ 88 , 89 ] to boost the performance of Al/CuO/PVDF films. PVDF nanofibers were incorporated into the films by combining electrospray and electrospinning with a solid particle loading as high as 70 wt%, as shown in Figure 5 d. A finer and higher content of nanofibers can cause the overall equivalence ratio to vary and boost the contact between the reactants, resulting in a higher burn speed.…”

“…Adapted with permission from Ref. [ 89 ]. Copyright 2017 Copyright John Wiley and Sons, and ( e ) four-layer laminate film of Al/CuO/PVDF.…”

Study on thermal behavior and kinetics of Al/MnO2 poly(vinylidene fluorine) energetic nanocomposite assembled by electrospray

“…The solvent in the fine charged droplets rapidly evaporate as they are extracted and accelerated by the extracting electric field, leaving concentrated nanoparticles and polymer, which were finally collected onto a substrate to create a uniform, high nanoparticle loading polymer composite. 25 To explore the effect of the addition of poly(vinylidene fluorine) (PVDF) in nanothermite system, Al/MnO 2 nanothermite was also prepared as a control group. Then, the Al/MnO 2 /PVDF nanocomposite and Al/MnO 2 nanothermite were tested and analyzed by XRD, FE-SEM and TG-DSC.…”

Preparation and Combustion Performance of B/PVDF/Al Composite Microspheres

“…Since the combustion temperature of the reaction can reach 3000 °C, AlF 3 sublimates during the reaction without hindering the oxidation of internal aluminum. Thereby, the combustion of Al NPs can also be promoted by PVDF . Moreover, Al NPs have a lower ignition temperature than B NPs , so adding a certain amount of Al NPs in compositions can significantly reduce the ignition energy of the composites .…”