Research on the Impact Initiation Behavior of PTFE/Al/Ni(2)O(3) Reactive Materials

PTFE/Al reactive material is an energetic material that releases energy under impact conditions, resulting in a wide range of application prospects. In order to improve its damage ability—considering the higher heat of the reaction per unit mass when Ni(2)O(3) is involved in the aluminothermic reaction—we designed and studied PTFE/Al/Ni(2)O(3), a reaction material based on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). We also designed two other kinds (PTFE/Al, PTFE/Al/CuO) for comparative study, with the mass fraction of the metal oxides added at 10%, 20%, and 30%, respectively. The quasi-static compression properties and impact initiation behavior of the material were investigated by a universal material testing machine and a drop hammer test. The reaction process of different materials under a high strain rate was recorded using a high-speed camera. The results show that with the increase in Ni(2)O(3) content, the strength of the PTFE/Al/Ni(2)O(3) reactive material shows an increasing trend followed by a decreasing trend. Among the three reactive materials, when the content of Al/Ni(2)O(3) reaches 30 wt.%, the reaction duration is the longest (at 4 ms) and the reaction fireball is the largest. The addition of Ni(2)O(3) is helpful to improve the reactivity and reaction duration of the PTEF/Al reactive material.