Reaction characteristics of Al/Fe2O3 nanocomposites

Al/Fe2O3 nonacomposites have explosive and high exothermic properties by thermite reaction. In this study, Al/Fe2O3 xerogel nanocomposites were prepared by sol–gel method and thermite reaction performance was compared with those prepared by physical mixing with sonication. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of Al/Fe2O3 xerogel nanocomposites show that network structure of Fe2O3 gel covers Al nanoparticles efficiently and this indicates that improvement of thermite reaction performance due to close contact between a fuel and an oxidizer. Optimum mole ratio of Al/Fe was determined to be 2 by thermite reaction performance by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis. At Al/Fe ratio of 2, thermite reaction enthalpy of the Al/Fe2O3 xerogel nancomposite was 991.4 J/g, which was higher by a factor of four than that of the nanocomposite prepared by physical mixing.