Reactionary ability of aluminum ultrafine powders in various oxidation processes

Abstract

Ultrafine aluminum powders (UFAP) have high reactivity in several oxidation processes. Air as oxidizer allows obtaining aluminum nitride as the basic phase in the oxidation products: ultrafine aluminum powders react with air nitrogen by the presence of oxygen. By reaction with water, UFAP leads to much higher energetic and transformation degrees than regular powders. Such unusual behavior of UFAP (especially electroexplosive UFAP) is discussed it terms of particle size (less than 1 /spl mu/m) and collision structure. The structure and phase pecularities of UFAP are also discussed.