Promoting effects of polyacrylamide on ignition and combustion of Al/H2O based fuels: Experimental studies of polyacrylamide aqueous solution flash pyrolysis

In this work, the flash pyrolysis of polyacrylamide (PAM) solution in furnace-type pyrolyzer with an initial normal pressure in argon was investigated at 300, 450 and 600 °C, respectively, combined with off-line analysis. Gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC/MS) was employed to detect the volatile products. Some important common peaks in the mass spectra of the PAM pyrolysis products were discovered, and about 20 pyrolysis products were identified. Among all these chemicals, some active compounds were confirmed to exist for the first time, which should be of importance in improving the ignition of Al/H2O/PAM based fuels. Moreover, the flash pyrolysis residues were analyzed by FTIR. The results indicate that O radical can accelerate the pyrolysis of PAM and result in the formation of some special chemicals. The internal interaction mechanism of PAM solution is discussed from the aspect of reaction pathways.